Farming is abundant across Colorado, including the state’s dairy industry. One issue of contention that has arisen in recent years is raw milk and what’s called the “food freedom movement.”
KUNC’s Dylan Simard spoke with Jennifer Brown with the Colorado Sun about a recent article she wrote about “raw milk.”
Firstly, raw milk is essentially cow milk that is not pasteurized, meaning it's not cooked to kill harmful bacteria and other enzymes. Most milk you see in grocery stories is pasteurized. Brown traveled to Pueblo County to see firsthand where raw milk comes from.
“It's pretty much the opposite of, you know, a mass commercial dairy where all the cows are lined up and machines are milking them,” Brown said. “It’s a much smaller operation. Cows are eating grass out in a pasture and kind of leading lovely lives out on the plains out there producing this fresh milk.”
The thing is — it’s illegal to sell raw milk in Colorado. It has been since about 1987, and the federal government says it’s illegal to sell raw milk across state lines. Brown found out Colorado has some of the strictest laws in the Mountain West about selling raw milk.
“Certainly, all the states that touch us [Colorado] you can go to a retail store such as, you know, Whole Foods or Sprouts or whatever, and you could purchase raw milk and it would have a label,” Brown said. “The only way you can get raw milk legally in Colorado is if you are basically the farmer, like you own the cow or the goat or the sheep or whatever animal we're talking about.”
Brown said Colorado has gotten around this by making herd shares available. That’s when customers can buy shares and own a piece of a herd and therefore get some milk.
Gov. Jared Polis has expressed support for legalizing raw milk, and there’s a movement across the west called the “food freedom” movement, which focuses on intuitive eating and limits government involvement in regulating what you can eat or drink.
“We have seen some laws in Colorado in recent years about local meat processing, selling backyard eggs, and being able to sell homemade goods from your kitchen,” Brown said. “We haven't seen any changes to the law on raw milk for a long time.”
Coloradans do have strong feelings on the subject. Brown said she’s talked to advocates who drive hours out of their way to pick up raw milk. They rave about the taste, how rich it is, and claim it has enzymes in it that help them digest their food. That’s not to say that raw milk is better for you. Brown’s article mentions hospitalizations that are rooted in consuming raw milk.