# Raw milk is making a revival- because of Avian flu **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 16, 2024, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-milk-is-making-a-revival-because-of-avian-flu/1001654 "2024-05-16T22:33:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2024, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-milk-is-making-a-revival-because-of-avian-flu/1001654/21 "2024-05-17T15:51:41Z")
My personal experience leads me to believe this movement will be self correcting. If you’re entirely unexposed to raw milk and have some, there’s a very good chance your digestive system will have a rather extreme reaction. Tablespoon of raw milk in a cup of hot tea, when in SAmerica, I was violently ill. My body could not expel it fast enough. I was weak for two days afterward. I like to think most people whatever their agenda, or how committed they are to it, would be able to read and interpret those subtle clues correctly. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2024, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-milk-is-making-a-revival-because-of-avian-flu/1001654/22 "2024-05-17T17:06:05Z")
I suspect, given what some foodie friends of mine tell me about their experiences with raw milk (and more commonly, raw cheeses) is that to do raw milk _safely_ you have to be even MORE careful with your cows, and your sanitation at every single step of the process. If you’re into it for the “all natural curative” powers (traditionally leftist woo) or “to build up a strong, manly immune system and rugged power” (traditionally righty snake oil) you’re probably going for something that claims how minimally processed, wholesome, or “traditional” it is - which very quickly contradicts the whole MORE careful thing. With the expected results. Aside - I took potshots and made unfair generalizations at the reasoning and political leanings of different philosophies, yes. Thankfully, not a breaking news thread, but seriously, I did want to explain _why_ it was likely for different groups to neglect safety for for different reasons, arriving at the same point. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2024, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-milk-is-making-a-revival-because-of-avian-flu/1001654/23 "2024-05-17T18:00:44Z")
Wonder if that Amish dairy farmer [in trouble with authorities in Pennsylvania](http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/amos-miller-wants-judge-to-stop-pa-ag-department-from-destroying-his-raw-milk-other/article_10f72044-fcf6-11ee-8284-0323703bc61b.html), Amos Miller, will find a way to profit off selling raw milk products contaminated with H5N1. > [@](#): > > In January, state agriculture inspectors [raided Miller’s farm](https://lancasteronline.com/tncms/asset/editorial/2349fb14-ab33-11ee-a3fe-37f92d33e0a9/) after two people, one in New York and one in Michigan, became ill after consuming raw eggnog purchased from Miller. As part of the raid, the department seized food on the farm to prevent him from selling it. > > Among the dairy products seized during the Jan. 4 raid are several gallons of various types of cow milk, as well as one pint each of camel, donkey, water buffalo milk\*, three gallons of goat milk, and several pounds of cheese. Meats, baked goods and other food was also seized, but not specified in the search warrant inventory. While a PA judge has refused to order Miller not to sell raw milk products out of state, there’s a federal ban on doing so. Given his history and the backing he’s gotten from Republicans, it’s no sure bet Miller will obey federal law even with added risk from H5N1. \*does it take a brave man to milk a water buffalo? ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2024, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-milk-is-making-a-revival-because-of-avian-flu/1001654/24 "2024-05-17T20:21:33Z")
Just think of it as evolution in action. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-milk-is-making-a-revival-because-of-avian-flu/1001654/25 "2024-05-19T07:25:46Z")
> [@duality72](#): > > An epidemiologist take I love that little quoted picture. It’s like the cow is saying “Seriously!? Even **I** don’t think it’s safe and it’s coming out of ME!” ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-milk-is-making-a-revival-because-of-avian-flu/1001654/26 "2024-05-19T07:30:55Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I ran across this yesterday (though it’s from 2016) If I remember correctly, someone reposted or linked to that article here on the Dope, back in 2016. That was 8 years ago; did nobody learn from that?!?! –G!!! ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-milk-is-making-a-revival-because-of-avian-flu/1001654/27 "2024-05-19T09:06:03Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > If you’re entirely unexposed to raw milk and have some, there’s a very good chance your digestive system will have a rather extreme reaction. Not true, otherwise no one would have it a second time. > [@elbows](#): > > Tablespoon of raw milk in a cup of hot tea, when in SAmerica, I was violently ill. My body could not expel it fast enough. I was weak for two days afterward. Do you really think that’s a typical reaction yet people just go right back for more? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-milk-is-making-a-revival-because-of-avian-flu/1001654/28 "2024-05-19T09:18:32Z")
I used to work on a dairy farm, and while I love milk, no way I would ever drink any of that stuff unpasteurized - I saw where it came from. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-milk-is-making-a-revival-because-of-avian-flu/1001654/29 "2024-05-19T14:14:11Z")
When I was a kid I had several relatives with dairy farms. When visiting them I would regularly drink raw milk. Sometimes straight from the milking barn and not yet cold. (Ugh.) The last two family dairy farmers had to give up the business since the dairy started to require that the farmer test his tank before pickup. (Cans were long gone.) This was too much for small farms. Historically, one of the big concerns is that cows can transmit TB in their milk. (I had a relative long ago that died from TB that might have come from milk from one of their cows.) A dairy farmer that’s willing to evade rules to sell raw milk is one I would not trust to test properly. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-milk-is-making-a-revival-because-of-avian-flu/1001654/30 "2024-05-19T15:53:48Z")
> [@duality72](#): > > An epidemiologist take on raw milk. > > [No, there are likely no immune benefits from raw milk](https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/no-there-are-likely-no-immune-benefits) I found this comment on that article illuminating: > My dad (I’m 73) grew up in a rural area and often described how as children they would get a squirt of milk into a cup from people milking cows (which was still done by hand then) as a treat. He also described periodic bouts of undulant fever (Brucellosis) during which, as he put in, “I was so damn sick I was delirious. My fingers felt as if they were the size of cucumbers!” > > That doesn’t sound like fun. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-milk-is-making-a-revival-because-of-avian-flu/1001654/31 "2024-05-19T19:25:57Z")
“Now I’ve got that feeling once again. I can’t explain; you would not understand. This is not how I am!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raw-milk-is-making-a-revival-because-of-avian-flu/1001654.md?page=1)