North Carolina just tried to ban raw milk. It didn’t go well at all. | Opinion

North Carolina’s Farm Act is usually about as controversial as a bale of hay. It adjusts a regulation here, spends a few dollars on marketing there, and often passes with near-unanimous support.

But this year’s version quickly turned sour. The issue: raw milk.

Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler has been trying to ban raw milk for years, but it’s never been a legislative priority. Thanks to the risk of avian influenza in dairy herds, it suddenly became one.

With his backing, the first version of this year’s Farm Act proposed cracking down on raw milk by eliminating legal loopholes that let people buy it in North Carolina.

On paper, it was a public health move. In practice, the idea curdled fast — creating a mess lawmakers didn’t seem prepared to mop up.

A hundred or so raw milk advocates showed up in Raleigh on Tuesday to make their voices heard. Their movement is about as ideologically diverse as you can get: crunchy moms and libertarian dads, California expats and free market absolutists.

Within hours, a new version of the bill was introduced. The raw milk ban was gone.

Milk matters here

Lawmakers apparently weren’t prepared for the backlash, but they should have been. We’re a state that treats milk with a kind of reverence. It’s our official state beverage. There’s an annual milk-chugging competition outside the legislature, where lawmakers gulp down Maola bottles in a relay race for dairy bragging rights.

I’m even old enough to remember when kids could drink a few sips straight from the cow at the N.C. State Fair. We did it on a school field trip.

This isn’t just a public health issue. It’s a cultural one.

A growing movement

The case for pasteurization is easy to understand. Heat kills harmful bacteria like salmonella, E. coli, and listeria. And now, it seems, bird flu too. That’s why the FDA and CDC both strongly warn against drinking raw milk, especially for pregnant women, children, and people with compromised immune systems.

But here’s the thing: a lot of people are drinking it anyway. And the people who care about this issue, really care.

They see raw milk as a matter of food freedom, traditional farming, and individual choice. And they’ve built their own underground market to get it — whether through herdshares (buying partial ownership in a cow to legally acquire its milk), or plastic jugs labeled “for animal consumption.” Some just drive to South Carolina, where raw milk is fully legal.

At least 32 states now allow some form of raw milk sales. It’s long been a staple on the West Coast, and spreading fast. Iowa and Delaware joined the list just last year. Even Alaska, a long-time holdout, now permits herdshares and limited sales.

The national trend is unmistakable: gradually and unevenly, more states are creating legal avenues for raw milk sales. North Carolina is the rare state trying to roll them back — and quickly realizing how unpopular that move can be.

I reached out to Commissioner Troxler’s office for comment — and he made it clear he’s not backing down.

“With the possibility of all these pathogens — E. coli and salmonella — being in raw milk, how do you compromise on public health?” he told me. “We have been given the job over food safety and Grade A milk, and it is a big responsibility. All the science shows there is a risk involved. How do you compromise on human health?”

It’s a fair question. But raw milk isn’t new. It’s part of North Carolina’s agricultural heritage — and it’s already here, moving quietly through legal loopholes and across state lines. This isn’t about ignoring science. It’s about acknowledging reality, regulating what’s already happening, and trusting that North Carolinians can preserve tradition without sacrificing safety.

The Farm Act replaced the crackdown with a directive to study the issue. That’s fine. But if we’re going to keep debating this, we might as well get it right.

What a raw milk bill could look like

At this point in my life, I’m not about to drink raw milk myself. I like mine fully pasteurized and chilled to 36 degrees.

But I get why some people want the option — and I’d rather see a legal, tested, above-board system than what we have now. It doesn’t need to be in grocery stores or coffee shops. But people shouldn’t have to buy their milk “for pets” or through moonshine-style cow contracts.

A reasonable compromise isn’t hard to imagine: Permit on-farm sales, prepaid deliveries, and certified farmers market transactions. Require safety testing and refrigeration. Label it clearly and regulate it like any other high-risk food.

Sorry, Commissioner Troxler, but that’s the public appetite. North Carolinians aren’t demanding raw milk in every fridge. They just don’t want the state treating it like contraband.

And if we can handle a milk-chugging contest on the lawn of the General Assembly, we can handle this.