With Raw Farm, the largest raw-milk dairy in the country, Mark McAfee has capitalized on a once-fringe product that’s been thrust into the mainstream in recent years and backed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“I’ve put a couple kids in the hospital, and they have been sick, but they recovered,” McAfee acknowledged before my visit. “But here’s the thing: I’m a pioneer. And I’m going against the grain here. I’m climbing a mountain they say you can’t climb.”

…

“We catch these things and divert the milk immediately,” McAfee said of the pathogens.

I assumed that after diverting batches, the farm discarded them.

Later that day, I learned otherwise.

“We have a red-flag system here, where if there’s anything that gets really out of whack, they can immediately tag the milk, and it doesn’t go to anything but cheese,” McAfee told me. “Because, you know, cheese is resistant to pathogens.”

Research has shown that raw cheese is not, in fact, resistant to pathogens; while aging can mitigate some risk, harmful bacteria can still survive the usual 60-day maturation process.

  • xyro@morbier.foo
    0·
    11 hours ago

    I’m not sure what’s done differently, but in France you can find raw milk and not get sick, and we make a shit ton of cheese with raw milk without problems (3/4 of the production). It is not advised for childrens or peoples with health risk though

    • Bluescluestoothpaste@sh.itjust.works
      0·
      9 hours ago

      Idk about france but in the US it’s just grifters doing it, no attention to quality control. You can see the guy literally says that IF they catch some bad milk, they turn it into cheese. It’s straight up criminal, that man should be thrown in prison for what he’s doing.

    • knife@lemmy.world
      0·
      11 hours ago

      it isn’t different. raw milk has just become politicized in the us because of rfk.