Utah lawmakers are considering a bill to create a protocol for state officials when raw milk is suspected of causing an outbreak of a foodborne illness — a move one milk producer said should bring clarity to a process that can create “a really long waiting game.”
HB414 would also change the process through which a raw milk dairy’s permit can be suspended if the dairy is found to be the source of milk that caused such an outbreak.
The bill passed the House Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee on Friday, on a 10-0 vote, with four legislators absent. It now moves to the full House.
Rep. Cheryl Acton, the bill’s sponsor, told The Salt Lake Tribune last week that HB414 would benefit consumers of raw milk as well as producers like Utah Natural Meat & Milk, which had its license suspended in September 2023 after state agencies linked the business to an outbreak of 14 illnesses caused by Campylobacter bacteria.
The West Jordan dairy’s license was reinstated two months later, but owners Kristen and Shayn Bowler told The Tribune that they lost about $100,000 in revenue during that time, and had to reduce their dairy herd down to a third of what it was.
“We just had to sit in limbo and dump milk, while they figured out what they were going to do,” Kristen Bowler said. “And we never really had any kind of firm timeline on when we could expect test results or what was going on.”
The Bowlers testified at Friday’s committee hearing.
“The intention of this bill is not to debate whether raw milk is or is not dangerous,” Shayn Bowler said during the hearing. “It is to secure a process in which both the producer and the department know exactly what direction to take in the case of another potential foodborne illness.”
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Rep. Cheryl Acton, R-West Jordan, as the House Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Standing Committee considers her legislation on raw milk, at the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025.
Creating a timeline after an outbreak
Symbria Patterson, co-founder of the Red Acre Center — a nonprofit that promotes and protects farmers and small farms — told The Tribune that when there’s an outbreak, there’s “nothing in place” under current rules that requires that the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food (UDAF) positively identify the producer. “It can just be suspect,” Patterson said.
If HB414 becomes law, UDAF would be required to collect a sample within two business days of issuing a cease and desist order prohibiting a dairy from selling raw milk. That sample would be tested for pathogens, and before a dairy could be publicly identified in connection with an illness outbreak, that sample would also have to undergo whole genome sequencing testing.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), whole genome sequencing “provides a very precise DNA fingerprint that can help link cases to one another, allowing an outbreak to be detected and solved sooner.”
In a statement to The Tribune, UDAF said it took issue with the whole genome sequencing requirement, saying more people could get sick before positive testing is available, and after epidemiological data had already connected the dairy to the outbreak.
UDAF also said it wasn’t sure the two-day window for testing was “feasible,” depending on where facilities are located and how many dairy owners request samples.
Under the bill, UDAF would have to notify a producer of test results from a sample within 15 business days — unless the UDAF notifies the producer in writing that it needs more time.
“This should define a timeline which is reasonable for testing, and a procedure to help people get things figured out and back running their businesses again,” Shayn Bowler told The Tribune.
The UDAF expressed concern that testing requirements for milk in the bill were “too low.”
“We have concerns that the department would have to reissue a suspended permit or remove a cease and desist order following an outbreak if a sample satisfies bacterial count and coliform standards but could still contain pathogens that could make people sick,” the department said.
The Utah Department of Health and Human Services said it is “neutral” on the bill. “We are in conversations with the bill sponsor about the bill and how it affects the public health system in protecting the health and safety of Utahns,” DHHS said in a statement.
If passed, HB414 also would:
• Require UDAF to produce evidence that an outbreak of a foodborne illness originated with that dairy’s raw milk.
• Require UDAF, if the suspended producer makes a written request, to provide the producer information on how to request a hearing regarding the decision to suspend their license.
• Define a foodborne illness outbreak as an occurrence of two or more cases of illness from different households caused by the ingestion of a common food.
• Regulate how UDAF could use surveys to determine if an outbreak is linked to raw milk. Those surveys would have to include questions about common sources of the pathogen in question. Unpasteurized milk is one source of Campylobacter bacteria; according to the Minnesota Department of Health, other sources include international travel, undercooked poultry, untreated water and contact with farm animals.
• Require a raw milk dairy that receives a cease and desist order to notify customers about the order, as well as halt the sale of raw milk.
• Allow a dairy to ask UDAF to have a sample analyzed by two laboratories — at the dairy’s expense.
• Require the UDAF to notify a producer that a cease and desist order has been lifted within one working day of getting three consecutive clean tests of its milk.
The pros and cons of raw milk
Acton said eight producers of raw milk are now licensed in Utah.
Utah Natural Meat & Milk has “way more demand for milk than we have supply,” co-owner Kristen Bowler told The Tribune. “There’s definitely a need out there for raw milk, and we can’t produce enough for all the people that want it in our area.”
According to the California-based Raw Milk Institute, some of the health problems that drinking raw milk can help include asthma, allergies, eczema, ear infections, fevers, respiratory infections and digestive problems.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports on its website that pasteurization is “crucial” for milk safety, and that it kills germs such as Campylobacter, Cryptosporidium, E. coli, listeria, brucella and salmonella that can make people sick, especially vulnerable groups like children, adults over 65, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems.
The California Department of Public Health also reports that drinking raw milk that’s contaminated with avian flu can lead to illness.
