I grew up on a dairy farm. My two brothers and I drank raw milk until we were in our teens (had to sell the farm due to finances). It just tasted so good right out of the bulk tank in the milkhouse.

Sounds delicious, mecadocaribe. And no one ever got sick? (Star Tribune story linked above includes a child who got E. coli)

I don't have children, but I would certainly drink raw milk myself and as a person who loves to cook - accessibility to raw milk and raw milk products would be greatly appreciated.

I grew up drinking Raw milk also. We had a milk route with other citizens in small town ND. Each family take their turn picking up empty containers, go do farm and then deliver . We LOVED the heavy cream.

I also grew up on a dairy farm and drank raw milk straight from the tank. We drank it, used it in cooking and poured it on cereal and no one in my family ever got sick.

Put it in this perspective, would you pasteurize human breast milk before giving it to an infant? I'm sorry, but there is no difference, as long as you are sanitary in the process!

I would kill to find raw milk, honestly. Since I make my own cheese, I would like to get access to milk as "untainted" and fresh as possible. That way I can either pasteurize it myself, or make cheese, which, if you age for at least 60 days kills off any potential bacteria that could be in the milk. store milk is pastuerized quickly and at a higher temp than necessary to ensure all bacteria is dead, but a lot of the potential for contamination comes from the equipment more so than the milk, which is my they do it that way. It's usable for dairy products like milk and yogurt, but has less flavor and also is harder to get quality curd from. It's created for shelf life and shipping vs drinking and using for other products. I've tried to get milk straight from farmers but it's hard to do, since many are suspicious because of the crackdown. They won't sell, although legally some are willing to trade for other things. So I'm trying to create enough cheese, bread and beer to barter with for more milk to make more goods to barter with. Vicious cycle. I wish I knew a good farm... :(

Far more people get sick from spinach or guacamole than from raw milk. I agree that the potential is there for bad bacteria if conditions are unsanitary or poor temperature levels are common as was the case when milk was delivered in barrels on the back of a horse drawn wagon. If a parent can choose to feed their child macaroni and cheese with a coke for a meal, why in Gods name can't they serve them milk. Which of those options are worse for the child. The real problem is big business can't control or profit from the small farmer. We as a people need to fight for our right to party....even if we are raising a glass of milk!

I would not purchase or drink raw milk because:
I cannot see or detect bacteria in my kitchen. Anyone can get ill or die from the wrong amount of the wrong kind of bacteria in milk.
While milk directly from the cow should be safe, I do not know if it was contaminated at any point in the milking process. Were the cow's udders clean? The milking equipment? The storage equipment? Unless I'm doing the milking, I cannot know this. I hope the farm is doing everything right, but you never know. This is why milk is tested for bacteria, which as I previously stated, I cannot do. I want my milk to be tested at a lab before I buy it.
I do not wish to potentially die or kill someone else just because a product tastes a little better.

The number of people willing to ignore scientific evidence with regard to raw milk and vaccinations, etc. astounds me. Are we a nation of dimwits?

Poorly worded poll folks. It says "Even if you don't want to give your kids raw milk, SHOULD the state of Minnesota INTERFERE with others who wish to do so?"

Given the comments are mostly supportive of raw milk, the answer would likely be NO! I wonder how many people misread this question.

Emily B, excellent point. To fix it, I'll add a poll question to address that angle. I hope people who voted on the first question will return for the new one.

I grew up visiting my grandparents farm and drinking raw milk. We never got sick. The amount of nutrients lost in the pasteurization process is staggering. Emily got it right. The bigger issue here is that this is just one more example of the overreach of the government and attacks on our personal Liberties. The State should not interfere with peoples choice to seek out and find REAL, WHOLE, LOCAL foods compared to the frankenfoods found at the big boxes.

We drank raw milk when we would go to the farm every summer.there were 5 kids,no one died or ever got sick. there is nothing like raw mlik...I do agree that there is way to much overreached of goverment attacks on our personl liberties..

I think I had raw milk once on a field trip to a farm. Everyone else's comments about it are making me thirsty. But did you see a letter to the editor in Sunday's Star Tribune? http://www.startribune.com/opinion/letters/154237795.html: "Minnesota law allows people who wish to bear the risk of illness to drink raw milk, but the Star Tribune puts the public in danger when it implies that there is some question about the whether the risks associated with drinking raw milk are real." Disagree?

I drank raw milk until I was 15 and we moved off our 3rd generation family farm. I would come in from playing outside and grab a glass a milk before a glass of water and never got sick. It was actually my job to wash and santize the cow's udders before my dad put on the milker. If I had the option I would give my kid's raw milk without thinking twice about it, actually I would LOVE a glass of raw milk right now!

Honestly, I've never tried raw milk. Does it taste a lot different than your typical grocery store gallon of milk?

Angie, but you sterlized and cleaned the udders and I am sure your Dad made sure the equipment was clean and sterilzed. The State NEEDS to make sure that happens,but when some people give their children because of their beliefs the state has the right to protect them from a very serious risk if the raw milk is not safe. The risk is too great to others. Sorry, these same people sue the state for not doing enough if their kids got sick because the raw milk was contaminated.

Here is an posting from the U of M Veterinary School...interesting facts about sickness and death from raw milk consumption in Minnesota. http://www.cvm.umn.edu/cahfs/prod/groups/cvm/@pub/@cvm/@cahfs/documents/article/cvm_article_237243.pdf

And here is a Slate article about why we need to pasterize....BTW milk is milk is milk ...no nutriential value is lost due to pasterization. Angie I bet you mom scaled the milk before she refrigerated it. I grew up on a dairy farm in PA and we had to. http://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/2010/07/the_rawmilk_deal.2.html

Scalded instead of scaled and your mom instead of you mom.

Amazing that nobody mentioned tuberculosis, which can be transmitted between people and cows. If parents insist on buying unpasteurized milk, they should also insist on seeing the herd's tuberculin testing records. The laws requiring pasteurization of milk played a huge role in stopping the deaths of thousands of children in the U.S. Now that TB is appearing in our colleges and schools, it seems irresponsible to think that raw milk is healthier. I also lived on a farm, and I remember raw milk from our cows having the taste of whatever the cows ate. There were times we bought store milk rather than drink our own cows' milk.

If this were a posting about drownings and water safety while swimming in lakes....... here's what I'd say: "I bin swimmin' and swimmin' sinse I wuz nee hihe to a grasshopper all my life, in farm ponds and lakes. I never drowneded and my brothurs or sisters or other kinfolk never did drowneded neether. So I know that it never happens......... and the gubmint is just makes up statistics to skeer peeple frum swimmin' an' goin' in the water. Just anuther gubmint takeover of peeple's freedum!" Sounds completely insane but apparently this is the track that a certain vein of a certain segment of a certain political party is going down...... so sad.