History Proves the Public Health Value of Pasteurization over Raw Milk

Although raw milk accounts for less than 3% of U.S. milk sales, it is associated with 840 times more illnesses and 45 times more hospitalizations than pasteurized products. As examples:

• Since mid-May, more than 60 people have been sickened in an outbreak linked to raw milk in Idaho – with at least 45 testing positive for campylobacteriosis.
• In 2025, raw milk illnesses spiked in a number of states due to outbreaks of E. coli (STEC) and Campylobacter.
• Over the last decade, raw milk-related outbreaks in the U.S. have caused an average of 100 to 125 reported illnesses each year.

Federal regulations require that all milk or milk products (except some cheeses) for sale or distribution in interstate commerce be pasteurized. However, because each state regulates its own intrastate sale of dairy products, the vast majority allow retail or on-farm sale of raw milk.

Why is there such differentiation? And how did we get here? Let’s take a look at the history (as primarily derived from A Brief History of Milk Hygiene and its Impact on Infant Mortality):

• Before the widespread adoption of pasteurization, milk was a primary vehicle for diseases such as typhoid fever, streptococcal infections, tuberculosis, and brucellosis.
• The discovery of the germ theory of disease by Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch proved that microbes, rather than “miasmas” (bad air), were responsible for infectious diseases
• With Pasteur’s work originally focused on wine and beer, he demonstrated that heating these to 140°F to 212°F protected them from spoilage.
• Then in 1870, the process was adapted to milk in Denmark; with the first commercial pasteurization of dairy products beginning in Germany in 1882.
• As pasteurization spread, the public health advantages became increasingly obvious with the infant mortality rate dropping between 1890 and 1910 from 150–300 deaths per 1,000 live births to 80–180.
• By 1911, major U.S. cities like Chicago and New York began mandating the process for cow’s milk, and it gradually spread across the U.S.
• As pasteurization spread, the transmission of several deadly pathogens declined.
• In 1924, the Standard Milk Ordinance was introduced by the U.S. Public Health Service as a voluntary model regulation to standardize dairy operations and ensure consistent pasteurization.
• It wasn’t until 1987 that the FDA mandated the pasteurization of milk and milk products for sale or distribution in interstate commerce.

Pasteurization is directly related to the reduction of infant disease and death by neutralizing microbial pathogens that were historically transmitted through contaminated raw milk. While other factors like improved dairy hygiene and breastfeeding advocacy also played roles, pasteurization provided a crucial remedy for the milk problems of the industrial era.

While states continue to allow intrastate sales and many consumers swear by the nutritional value of raw milk, current scientific reviews find no evidence of nutritional or health benefits from raw cow’s milk over pasteurized milk, reinforcing that the lessons of the past remain vital for public health today.

COVID Risk Matrix (as of June 1, 2026):

Influenza

Public Health News

• As of June 14, 2026, a cumulative total of 12 confirmed cases of New World screwworm (NWS) have been reported in livestock and at least one dog in the United States in Texas and New Mexico. Personnel who have direct access to animals in the affected areas are at a slightly elevated risks and should take precautions such as wearing protective clothing and ensuring that all wounds are covered. As a further precautionary measure, the FDA granted an emergency use authorization for a generic drug, nitenpyram, to treat NWS in dogs and cats. Dr. Mindy Brashears, USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety Dr. Mindy Brashears posted a YouTube video to discuss and mitigate the confusion and misinformation being seen online and in the news about the new world screwworm. Although it is a serious animal health issue, it is not a food safety issue, as it is not a foodborne pathogen, and it is not a disease in meat or poultry products. USDA inspection requirements remain in place, and no meat or poultry product that fails to meet food safety standards can be sold. 
• A fatal case of the plague, an infectious illness caused by Yersinia pestis, has been reported in New Mexico. The CDC estimates that an average of 7 cases and <1 deaths are reported annually in the US, mainly in the Southwest, linked to contact with rodents or fleas carrying the bacteria.
• A new study reports that deaths from diarrheal diseases dropped dramatically from 1990 to 2023, from 3.7 to 1.7 million. Rotavirus was the top cause of these illnesses, followed by norovirus and Shigella. The availability of a vaccine against rotavirus likely played a role in the decreased death rates, at least in some regions.