On her farm in Utah, Hannah Neeleman makes herself a turmeric latte with a special ingredient: raw milk, fresh and frothy from the udder of a cow. Her young daughter squeezes some into her cup, too.
The video of Neeleman’s raw milk latte has been viewed 8 million times on her Instagram and TikTok accounts, Ballerina Farm, since it was posted on May 11. In videos across social media, people are showing themselves drinking raw milk, claiming it offers health benefits that are lost in pasteurized milk, which is heated to kill disease-causing pathogens. One influencer squirts it from the teat into his mouth. Another says raw milk is “pure.” (Neeleman declined a request for an interview.)
Dairy farmers who sell raw milk say demand is on the rise. But U.S. public health officials have long warned about the risks of drinking raw milk — especially now, as a highly virulent bird flu is infecting dairy cows across the country. On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a Michigan dairy worker had been infected with theavian flu virus, the second U.S. human case in less than two months that has been linked to the H5N1 outbreak in dairy cattle. Federal officials consider the risk of humans catching the H5N1 virus to be low.They said pasteurization kills the virus.