Inside Tampa Bay’s raw milk market as scientists fear bird flu in cows

BELLEAIR BLUFFS — Mateo Barbagelata brings a tumbler of raw cow’s milk to coffee shops, asking baristas to pour it into the lattes he orders.

A sticker on his laptop declares “RAW MILK IS NOT A CRIME.”

“Raw milk for us is a lifestyle,” said Barbagelata, 25. His family owns a Clearwater produce shop, Lakeview Farm Store, that sells unpasteurized dairy products.

Even as public health officials warn that a form of bird flu is rapidly spreading through dairy cattle in states like Michigan and Texas, Barbagelata is not dissuaded from drinking raw milk.

And neither, it seems, are many other Floridians.

The state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services earlier this year warned that raw milk could contain the live bird flu virus and that consumption may spread the pathogen further. But local businesses told the Tampa Bay Times that demand for raw milk remains high and has been growing for years.

The Barbagelata family bought Lakeview Farm Store three years ago after moving from Argentina, initially selling about 20 gallons of unpasteurized cow’s milk per week. Now it sells roughly 300, Barbagelata said.

“Every day we’re having new customers” purchase raw milk for the first time, he said. “People are waking up.”

Producers of unpasteurized dairy products are struggling to meet the demand, said Vicky Webster, 48, who runs Happy Tails Farm in Brooksville. Her business produces its own raw goat’s milk and sells unpasteurized cow’s milk from other Florida farms.

The expanding market pits those who swear by the benefits of raw milk against beleaguered health officials grappling with the latest infectious disease threat and public mistrust following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Webster, for example, said she believes the bird flu outbreak is a “conspiracy type of thing” concocted by the government.

Heightened danger?

It’s still unclear what risk the avian influenza virus, H5N1, poses to consumers if they drink raw milk from an infected cow.

Researchers don’t know whether the virus, if present in unpasteurized milk, could cause an infection if someone ingests it or what dose would make an individual sick.

But mice fed droplets of raw milk from infected cows developed lethargy and high levels of the pathogen in their respiratory organs, research shows, sparking concerns about what might happen in humans.

Federal officials began reporting cases in dairy cattle in late March and have so far detected the virus in more than 160 herds in 13 states. Florida has yet to diagnose an infection.

Experts worry that the H5N1 virus could mutate and spread quickly among humans, triggering a pandemic. Four dairy farmworkers in Colorado, Michigan and Texas have experienced mild infections. They caught the virus through “direct contact” with sick cows, said Nicole Martin, an assistant research professor in dairy foods microbiology at Cornell University.

Pasteurization, which heats milk to kill harmful bacteria such as listeria, salmonella and campylobacter, neutralizes the virus, according to experiments conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Department of Agriculture. Pathogens can get into milk if a cow is ill or via environmental contamination.

Public health authorities have long warned about the dangers of consuming unpasteurized milk, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently urged people not to drink raw milk containing the live H5N1 virus.

Symptoms of foodborne illnesses contracted through raw milk can include diarrhea, stomach cramps and vomiting, the agency said. Young children, seniors, pregnant mothers and those with weakened immune systems are at higher risk for severe sickness. Over a span of two decades, health departments across the country reported 2,645 illnesses tied to unpasteurized milk, including 228 hospitalizations and three deaths, research shows. Pasteurized milk was implicated in the same number of fatalities and a similar amount of illnesses, but only 33 hospitalizations.

A person in Florida died after being infected with listeria 10 years ago that was linked to raw milk from a Pennsylvania producer.

Florida prohibits the sale of unpasteurized milk for human consumption, according to the state agriculture department. But residents can easily buy raw cow’s milk — if they know where to find it.

‘I’m sold out’

Florida farms label unpasteurized milk as being only for pets or not for humans to drink. A Times reporter bought 1-gallon jugs of raw milk at stores in the Carrollwood area and Safety Harbor. They cost $14.99 and $16, respectively. One was marketed as a “livestock feed supplement.”

It’s up to people to choose to drink it, said Barbagelata of Lakeview Farm Store, which has up to 250 customers per week come in to buy raw dairy products.

Jessica Kelleher, a spokesperson for the state agriculture department, acknowledged in an email that if a business isn’t selling raw milk in violation of Florida law or regulation, the agency “does not have authority to enforce the personal use of such products.”

It’s unclear how many shops sell unpasteurized milk in Tampa Bay or across the state. Big chains like Publix and Walmart don’t carry it, but smaller health food stores do.

Food and Drug Administration researchers, using data from 2016 and 2019, reported that 4.4% of U.S. adults said they consumed unpasteurized milk at least once in a year.

Nationally, sales of raw cow’s milk have been increasing, but they still account for a small share of total milk sales, according to data from NielsenIQ, a global research firm that tracks purchases at retail stores but not those directly from farmers to consumers.

During the year ending June 29, unpasteurized cow’s milk generated more than $2.5 million in U.S. sales — a 6% year-over-year increase, according to the data, which the company provided to the Times. That’s just a sliver of the $11.5 billion in total cow’s milk sales.

Some states have been loosening restrictions on unpasteurized milk, including Georgia, which last year started to allow sales for human consumption. Florida remains one of 20 states with some form of an explicit prohibition on in-state raw milk sales, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

Still, business appears to be good in Tampa Bay.

“I’m sold out right now for the next two years,” said Mike Alday, 69, who runs a 640-acre dairy farm in Arcadia with more than 200 grass-fed cows. His raw milk is distributed around the area, including at Lakeview Farm Store.

Alday told the Times he sells thousands of gallons per week but declined to say how much money that generates. Businesses from Orlando to Miami stock his products, he said.

Demand, he said, is through the roof.

‘I feel it’s healthier’

Paul Saladino, an Instagram influencer with 2.2 million followers, is a key factor in surging interest in unpasteurized milk, Barbagelata said.

Saladino, who also posts on TikTok and describes himself as a “Double Board Certified MD,” became popular in the last two to three years, Barbagelata said, and touts what he calls an “animal-based diet” consisting of meat, organs, fruit, honey and raw dairy. Saladino’s website says these foods “can reverse and prevent disease, as well as unlock our most powerful forms.”

Other influencers with less reach, Barbagelata said, now copy Saladino’s promotion of unpasteurized dairy. About 60% of those coming into Lakeview Farm Store to buy raw cow’s milk are young, athletic individuals, he said.

Like-minded people are connecting over social media, said Webster, of Happy Tails Farm, and information about raw milk is easier to access than in years past.

Health claims about unpasteurized milk proliferate online, including that it’s good for the gut, alleviates lactose intolerance, treats allergies and has superior levels of proteins and vitamins.

Dennis D’Amico, a University of Connecticut associate professor who specializes in dairy product safety, said most claims from raw milk proponents have not been proven scientifically or are “not really true.” Pasteurization, he said, can decrease the amount of some vitamins in milk, especially Vitamin C. But there’s little Vitamin C in milk to begin with, so any reduction is insignificant to someone’s health, he said.

Unpasteurized cow’s milk drinkers, though, insist the products are more nutritional and harbor a deep distrust of public health officials.

For two months, Barbagelata said he went on a diet of drinking one gallon of raw milk per day to prove it’s safe. He didn’t get sick, he said, and felt energized. His skin has also cleared up since he began regularly consuming it in 2021, he said.

Lakeview Farm Store representatives visit raw milk vendors to ensure their animals are treated humanely and conditions are sanitary, Barbagelata said. (No matter how clean or healthy an animal appears, they can be carrying a pathogen and shed it without displaying symptoms, said Martin of Cornell University.)

“We are sure of what we are selling,” Barbagelata said.

Raw milk from both cows and goats is creamier and “I feel it’s healthier,” Webster said. She emphasized that she was speaking about her own experience and not encouraging others to consume unpasteurized milk.

John Roberts, 54, owner of Olivor Heritage Farms in Dover, said he also drinks raw milk and isn’t personally worried about the H5N1 virus. He said raw shellfish and leafy greens are the most risky for foodborne illnesses.

He said the public’s faith in institutions like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is low and many people are interested in disconnecting from the “commercial food system,” instead buying from local sources where they can see who makes products.

Martin acknowledged that researchers face challenges in educating consumers about unpasteurized milk.

“Despite the fact that as a scientist I might say, ‘OK, there’s this increased risk,’ what does that really translate to to the everyday consumer who probably in all likelihood has been drinking raw milk or has in the past and didn’t get perceptively sick,” she said.