An article The Baltimore Banner recently published (The Dish: Raw milk is controversial. For one local creamery, it’s the future, Feb. 19, 2025) was highly irresponsible in its failure to provide sufficient factual information alongside the opinions of raw milk proponents. Raw milk is not “controversial.” It’s dangerous.

Consuming unpasteurized milk poses a risk of infection from E. coli, salmonella, strep, campylobacter, staph, listeria, tuberculosis and now bird flu. Matt Prigel implies that allowing sales in Maryland will improve safety by making it easier to keep the milk cold and clean. Although the risks of bacterial infection may be reduced (not eliminated) by keeping the environment clean and maintaining safe holding temperatures, once a dairy cow is infected with bird flu, no amount of hygiene or refrigeration will ensure that live virus is not present in the milk. Only pasteurization can do that.

Del. Kathy Szeliga’s statement that if “a person is worried about the transmission of avian flu through raw milk, they certainly don’t have to buy it,” is characteristically ignorant. With little information available about whether the virus can be transmitted to humans through drinking raw milk, those of us who choose not to buy the product also do not want others to potentially contract and spread bird flu. This is a matter of public health and safety, not individual consumer choice.

The delegate also seemingly fails to recognize that some consumers of raw milk aren’t worried about the risks because they are too young to understand them. The article quotes a raw milk influencer who claims that her infant daughter’s unspecified health issues were resolved after consuming raw milk. The story did not note whether there was an attempt to verify this claim. The author should have pointed out that raw milk is especially dangerous to young children and there are no proven health benefits associated with consuming it. Failing to include these facts leaves readers with the false impression that they can safely give infants — even sick infants — unpasteurized dairy.

Caitlin O’Donnell, Baltimore