SUSAN DYER of Dyer Dairy in Georgetown, Texas, explains that she and her husband both come from dairy-farming families well acquainted with the stresses of the industry. Her father, for example, struggled to compete with the big corporate operations. He eventually had to shut down his farm. For years, Mrs Dyer continues, she and her husband sold most of their milk to a co-op, with unpasteurised or “raw” milk as a sideline. But two years ago they decided they wanted to focus on running a small family farm. Today they have a raw-milk dairy with an attached shop selling cheese, honey and vegetables. It is a cheerful place. One customer, sniffing a shallot, announced that if you rub garlic on your feet you can taste it in your mouth. But the main attraction is the raw milk, bottled fresh every day directly after Mr and Mrs Dyer have finished milking the cows.
Raw milk makes up a tiny part of the overall American milk market, perhaps half a percent. Industry watchers say that raw milk is becoming more popular as consumers take a greater interest in where their food has come from. Enthusiasts say that the unpasteurised stuff tastes better, and some of them even claim that raw milk is a sort of superfood, chock-full of nutrients and enzymes that the pasteurisation process, which involves a short burst of high heat, destroys.
Raw milk certainly tastes good. Public health advocates dispute the health benefits, though, and say that raw milk is inherently risky, especially for children, old people, and anybody with health problems. Between 1998 and 2008, according to the Centres for Disease Control, some 1,600 people became sick after drinking the stuff. Nearly 200 were hospitalised and two died. The actual incidence of minor illness may be higher, as many people afflicted by food-borne disease suffer in the privacy of their homes.
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