Raw milk: safe or sorry?

Raw milk is trending. Even the West Virginia Senate passed a resolution about it. But what does a dairy farmer say? You may not have known the milk you buy in the grocery store is cooked but it is. The process is called pasteurization. Lauren Perkins a fourth generation dairy farmer who works on her family’s dairy farm called Perk Farm Organic Dairy explained the process saying “[The milk is] heated to a temperature that can kill harmful bacteria.” But raw or unpasteurized milk is trending. Senator Dave Sypolt (R- Preston) is the chair of the Senate Agriculture and Rural Development Committee. He said, “There’s been a motion or a movement in the state for the past five to seven years in order to legalize the sale of raw milk.” Right now herd sharing is allowed in West Virginia, but the sale of raw milk is illegal. Dairy farmers say raw milk can contain harmful bacteria like e coli, salmonella, listeria.