Raw Milk and the FDA

By Sally Fallon Morell

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is becoming an increasing threat to raw milk consumers and their freedom of food choice. Because FDA’s warnings on the dangers of consuming raw milk are not having as great an impact on consumer demand as they once did, the agency is now making a more concerted effort to stop the supply of raw milk, thus effectively denying consumer freedom of choice. An aide to Congressman Ron Paul was told earlier in the year by a congressional liaison for FDA that raw milk is a “high priority” with the agency—this while recalls of industrial food products continue unabated and over 100,000 people a year die from “properly” prescribed pharmaceutical drugs.

Whether through making criminal referrals to US Attorneys or pushing state departments of agriculture to take action against the distribution of raw milk, the agency is pressing its agenda. In written testimony submitted to the Health and Government Operations Committee of the Maryland House of Delegates on March 15, 2007, John F. Sheehan (Director of FDA’s Division of Plant and Dairy Food Safety) stated, “Raw milk should not be consumed by anyone, at any time, for any reason.” FDA would like to impose this belief on us all.

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