Predictably, with relaxation of state regulations allowing sale and distribution of raw milk, foodborne infections from this product will become more common.

ProMED-Mail reported on a cluster of five children in two families who consumed unpasteurized milk.  Salmonella Typhimurium was responsible for illness in children ranging in age from three months to ten years.  The Minnesota Department of Health is investigating the source and will take appropriate action.

Recently the Centers for Disease Control published* on 75 outbreaks with 675 illnesses attributable to non-pasteurized milk from 2013 through 2018.  The incidence rate of milk borne infection was correlated with enactment of state and local laws allowing retail sale of unpasteurized milk. It was demonstrated that there was a threefold greater number of outbreaks where sales were expressly allowed compared to jurisdictions where retail sales were prohibited.

Providing raw milk to children is a form of abuse.

*Koski, L. et al. Foodborne Illness Outbreaks Linked to Unpasteurized Milk and Relationship to Changes in State Laws-United States, 1998 to 2018. Epidemiol Infect. (2022) doi.org/10.1017/S0950268822001649