In March, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) introduced the Interstate Milk Freedom Act, which would stop the federal government from blocking raw-milk sales across state lines. Since 1987 the FDA has banned shipping raw milk between states for human consumption, even between two states that both allow it. In May, a coalition of food-safety groups came out against the bill. And the health secretary who has spent years promoting raw milk, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., could end the ban on his own but hasn't yet.

1. Let People Buy the Milk They Want (Reps. Massie and Pingree)

Two states both allow raw milk, and federal law still bans the sale between them.

The bill just lets willing buyers and sellers trade. Massie, a Kentucky Republican, and Pingree, a Maine Democrat, want to stop Washington from blocking raw-milk sales across state lines. Right now a farmer in a state where raw milk is legal can't sell to a buyer in another state where it's also legal, because the 1987 FDA rule sits in between.

Massie has been at this for over a decade. He's introduced versions of the bill in 2014, 2015, 2019, 2021, and 2024. His argument doesn't change: adults can decide what to put in their own bodies, and the federal government shouldn't overrule two states that already agree.

2. This Gets Kids Sick Across State Lines (the Safe Food Coalition)

Let a no-rules state ship to a strict one, and the outbreak travels with the milk.

Food-safety groups say the bill spreads the risk. The Safe Food Coalition — including the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Consumer Reports, and the Consumer Federation of America — opposed the bill, warning that a state with no raw-milk safety rules could ship to a state with strict ones. Their letter said it "could result in more and bigger outbreaks, with contaminated milk from a single dairy sickening many more children across multiple states."

Raw milk has a real outbreak record. It can carry E. coli, salmonella, and listeria, and between 1998 and 2018 it caused 202 US outbreaks, 2,645 illnesses, and 228 hospitalizations. Bird flu raised the stakes — H5N1 has turned up in raw milk, and California pulled a batch after detecting it.

3. Raw Milk Is a MAHA Cause Now (RFK Jr. and the movement)

To the Make America Healthy Again crowd, this is about distrust of the FDA as much as milk.

Raw milk became a symbol for the health-freedom movement. To Make America Healthy Again supporters, pasteurization rules are nanny-state overreach and raw milk is a natural-food cause, and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has championed it for years. He put it on his FDA wish list before the election.

But the pro-raw-milk secretary hasn't freed it yet. Kennedy could lift the interstate ban himself and so far hasn't, while the FDA he oversees keeps enforcing it. The movement has the megaphone and the cabinet seat, and the ban is still standing.

Where This Lands

Massie and Pingree say two states that both allow raw milk shouldn't need Washington's permission to trade it, and adults can choose for themselves. Food-safety groups say the bill lets a state with no rules sicken kids in a state with strict ones, and the outbreak record and bird flu show the danger is real. And for the Make America Healthy Again movement, raw milk is a test of whether they can actually roll back the FDA — one their own health secretary hasn't passed yet. The bill sits in committee, and Kennedy still hasn't lifted the ban himself.

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