FRESNO, CALIFORNIA — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. During his presidential campaign, Kennedy criticized federal government restrictions on raw milk.
Mark McAfee, founder of Raw Farm, operates a dairy facility southwest of Fresno in California's Central Valley. Raw Farm is the largest U.S. producer of unpasteurized milk, generating approximately $30 million in annual revenue. Federal and state regulators have linked Raw Farm to more than a dozen product recalls and outbreaks that sickened hundreds of consumers. The Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Justice have repeatedly accused McAfee of violating federal laws and regulations over two decades.
The company screens every batch of milk for salmonella, E. coli, campylobacter, and listeria. It utilizes a tagging system to identify milk batches with elevated pathogen levels for diversion to cheese production. "We have a red-flag system here, where if there’s anything that gets really out of whack, they can immediately tag the milk, and it doesn’t go to anything but cheese. Because, you know, cheese is resistant to pathogens." McAfee said.
The Food and Drug Administration directed the company to stop using pathogen-positive milk for cheese production two years before a reported visit. Milk batches containing salmonella are discarded or sent for pasteurization rather than being used in cheese production. Scientific research indicates that harmful bacteria can survive the standard 60-day aging process used for raw cheese. The company's cheese is sold in hundreds of retail locations across the U.S., including Sprouts Farmers Market. Retailer H-E-B in Texas generates approximately $50,000 in weekly sales of its cheese.
More than 10 million Americans consume unpasteurized milk. National weekly sales of unpasteurized milk increased by 65 percent between 2023 and 2024. "I’ve put a couple kids in the hospital, and they have been sick, but they recovered. But here’s the thing: I’m a pioneer. And I’m going against the grain here." McAfee said.
No independent assessment of Mark McAfee’s claims was available.