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.

Crossposted from https://scribe.disroot.org/post/9428370

Archived version

  • Raw Milk on the Rise: Driven by political shifts and wellness trends, unpasteurized milk has moved from a fringe obsession to a widespread movement rooted in institutional distrust.
  • The Myth of Safety: Despite stringent hygiene efforts, contamination from deadly bacteria like E. coli and salmonella remains an inherent, unavoidable risk in unpasteurized dairy.
  • A Political Shield: As raw milk continues to sicken consumers, high-level lawmakers and government officials are championing the industry’s expansion rather than curbing the danger.

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If you trust 150 years of bedrock science, [raw milk] offers little reason to consume. By definition, it has not been pasteurized, the simple process of heating milk to kill off harmful bacteria. Before the practice was widely adopted a century ago, thousands of babies died each year from illnesses linked to contaminated dairy. Today, most scientists and health experts agree that raw milk has no significant, proven nutritional benefits over its sanitized counterpart, cannot treat or cure disease and subjects its consumers to over 100 times the risk of foodborne illness, which can be especially dangerous for young children.

And yet, McAfee’s farm, the largest raw-milk dairy in the country, is pulling in about $30 million a year, meeting a growing demand from customers who say they want food that hasn’t been robbed of health benefits by industrial processing.

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Regulators have linked Mark McAfee’s raw dairy farm to more than a dozen recalls and outbreaks that left hundreds of people ill.

“I’ve put a couple kids in the hospital …,” McAfee acknowledged… “But here’s the thing: I’m a pioneer.”

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    • Drusas@fedia.io
      6·
      22 hours ago

      You can’t expect everyone to research every product they come across. Some of these people are just victims who didn’t know any better, and most of them children.

      Mary McGonigle-Martin was shopping in a Southern California grocery store in 2006 when she spotted ads suggesting McAfee’s milk could treat allergies and digestive problems. She thought of her 7-year-old son, Chris, who she suspected was dealing with dairy sensitivity, and later visited McAfee’s website to learn more. She knew the risks of forgoing pasteurization, but the site eased her concerns: It said the farm tested its milk and had never found a single pathogen.

      So she started buying it, and her son started drinking it. And about a month later, he fell gravely ill. What began as a trip to the nearest hospital for bloody diarrhea turned into a race to save his life as his kidneys started to fail. Airlifted to a children’s hospital in Loma Linda, Chris was put in a medically induced coma. He spent nine days on a ventilator and 18 days on dialysis, during which time doctors gave him blood, platelet and plasma transfusions.

      …

      Chris suffered permanent kidney damage.

      • WackyHeartFluid@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        17 hours ago

        This is what the FDA used to control?

        There are different rules for survival in a place where corporate profit is more valued than human life. Health Insurance companies will kill way more kids than this guy and his sales pitch. The bar for survival is getting higher, ‘she knew the risks’ but couldn’t spot the bullshit: the people who can might survive, and (maybe) their kids.

        It’s like Nestle’s formula division setting up shop in North America instead of Africa. The WHO stepped in during that crisis, but I think the USA abandoned that safeguard too.

        This is what the majority voted for. Freedom to do harm to fellow Americans. Deregulation. No experts. Survival of the fittest style freedom.