In Arkansas, A bill to loosen regulations on raw milk sales passed a legislative committee this week. House Bill 1048 would allow dairy producers to sell unpasteurized goat, sheep and whole cow milk at farmers markets and by delivery in Arkansas. As Nathan Treece with Little Rock Public Radio reports, current state law bans the sale of raw milk outside of the farm where it was produced.
Ryan Norris is a state director of the libertarian group Americans for Prosperity (AFP) Arkansas. He asked members of the House Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development to support the bill. “You’ve got to make all the dollars and cents that you can in the production that you have because it is tough with all inputs energy costs, feed costs, etc. to make a dime.”
Current law does allow Arkansas dairy farmers to sell a maximum of 500 gallons a raw milk a month at their farm. HB1038 goes next to the full House for consideration. The legislation would amend the 2013 law which spells out the limited nature of raw milk sales, along with the requirement that the product be clearly labeled.
For its part, the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) recommends “All Arkansans – especially pregnant women, infants and children – avoid consuming raw milk and raw milk products.” In a statement from December 2023, Dr. Gary Wheeler, with the health department, said the risk of dairy-related outbreaks caused by raw milk is at least 150 times greater than that of pasteurized milk. The warning on the risks of raw milk consumption echoes that of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Exhaustive governmental research from the CDC from 2009-2014, using data collected by the National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS) concluded that consumption of unpasteurized cow’s milk and cheese in the United States causes, on average, 760 illnesses a year and 22 hospitalizations, mostly from Salmonella spp. and Campylobacter spp.
This push for increased raw milk sales in Arkansas comes at a time when there is growing concern about the surge in H5N1 cases, also known as Avian Influenza or “Bird Flu.” That includes the detection of bird flu virus in unpasteurized milk sold in California stores.
Despite the risks and warnings, nearly 4.4% of U.S. adults, or about 11 million people, report that they drink raw milk at least once each year. About 1% of adults say they consume raw milk each week, according to a 2022 FDA Study.
