Local News
The fight over raw milk intensifies as Arkansas explores lifting restrictions

Bonnerdale, Arkansas – All around the world, milk is recognized for its ability to sustain both humans and animals.
The most fundamental of drinks has somehow turned into the main topic of discussion regarding freedom and food safety.
Devotees of unpasteurized “raw” milk, seeking its purportedly improved nutritional qualities, clash with public health professionals these days, highlighting the long-standing dangers of consuming dairy products that have not been heated to a suitable temperature.
“From a public health standpoint, this really keeps me up at night,” said Jennifer Acuff, a food microbiology PhD holder and assistant professor of food safety at the University of Arkansas. “Raw milk cannot be handled in a way that eliminates or even significantly reduces risk.”
The dangers of raw milk have presented Dr. Acuff with more and more challenges from a diverse range of farmers, lawmakers, and health-conscious customers.
Logan Duvall, a co-owner of Me and McGee, a farmers market in North Little Rock, stated, “I am all for the open discussion about pasteurized versus raw milk, and they are very different products.” “It will change people’s lives when they experience it.”
According to Betty Ballard and her husband John, who promote the health advantages of the high-protein milk from their four cows on the Living Healthy Farm in Garland County, “raw milk has literally transformed a lot of people’s lives.” This is true for both their bodies and the bodies of their young children.
Before he and his wife invested in land and abandoned a job in building and construction, John Ballard recalled, “There was a period of time when we were doing the city life, living in the suburbia on a plane every week, traveling.”
I came upon a photo from 2019 showing John and I at a ten-seat sushi restaurant in New York City. We now have four dairy cows on a regenerative farm,” Betty Ballard stated.
According to the Ballards, as their unconventional farming journey developed, they came across a broader group that is difficult to categorize. It’s a cross between libertarians and conservatives and the traditional health and environmentalists of the political Left.
Because raw milk is purposefully difficult to obtain under Arkansas law, they are drawn to each other.
“The consumer must visit that farm and buy it straight from that location in order to obtain raw milk,” Duvall stated. “It will technically be illegal to do anything else.”
Due to this restriction, Duvall is unable to provide raw milk and other items that shorten the journey from farm to table.
Customers who find out about the Ballards’ raw milk practically beat a path to their door because of this farm-only rule.
According to John Ballard, “we have very dear customers who drive 81 miles one way to pick up milk.” Their total cost, including drive time and gas, is $21 per gallon. They can now purchase a gallon of milk at the grocery for, what, four or five dollars? Because it is nutrient-dense and provides for their family, they decide to invest $21 per gallon. They shouldn’t have to go 81 miles, in my opinion.
That long drive is essential to Acuff. After traveling the world and witnessing the devastation that bacteria may cause to a person who consumes contaminated food, the prospective raw milk customer is forced to witness the origins of the product firsthand.
“When consumed, raw dairy products are frequently linked to diseases like listeriosis and campylobacteriosis. Historically, they were linked to even more severe illnesses like brucellosis, dysentery, diphtheria, and tuberculosis,” she stated.
Regardless of how hygienic the farmer makes the business, Acuff believes that a farm is not a clean environment. She is aware of how tempting it is to bridge the gap between the farm and our dinner table, yet many people should be put off by the sight of the excrement and muck.
Acuff added that raw milk has gone through cycles of popularity and decline, but this time she is concerned. “A consumer going to the operation, to the farm and seeing the hygiene, seeing where that milk is produced, even if they don’t see any bacteria, that product is still risky,” she said.
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