Gee, It Doesn't Seem Like This Raw Milk Thing Is Going So Well, Part 4,279,327,934
A New Mexico newborn has likely died from listeria.
They say success is the best revenge. But for a not-insignificant percentage of US conservatives, the best revenge is, I guess, getting sick and possibly dying due to refusing to take vaccines or insisting upon drinking raw milk, despite the fact that it comes with a very high risk of getting E. coli, salmonella, bovine tuberculosis, bird flu, or listeria — which can make adults very sick and possibly kill children.
Raw milk has seen a massive surge in popularity in the “MAHA movement” in the last year, thanks to the very bad advice they have been taking from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a noted raw milk enthusiast. To be fair, there are people on the Left who are also big fans of raw milk, but the thing about us is that we don’t listen to Gwyneth Paltrow or put her in charge of our health in any capacity.
Now, a New Mexico newborn has died, and while medical experts have not yet determined an exact cause, they have determined that “the most likely source of infection was unpasteurized milk.” Not because the baby drank raw milk, but because their mother did, while she was pregnant. As mentioned, one of the disease-causing germs that is frequently present in raw milk is listeria, which can cause a number of serious problems in pregnancy, including stillbirths, miscarriages, and fatal infections like the one this child likely died from.
Investigators noted that the “tragic death underscores the serious risks raw dairy poses to pregnant women, young children, elderly [people] and anyone with a weakened immune system.”
“New Mexico’s dairy producers work hard to provide safe, wholesome products and pasteurization is a vital part of that process,” said New Mexico Secretary of Agriculture Jeff M. Witte. “Consumers, particularly those at higher risk, are encouraged to choose pasteurized dairy products to reduce the risk of serious foodborne illness.”
This tragedy is not the only raw milk-related scandal in recent weeks. Ballerina Farm — the farm run by Hannah Neeleman, the Mormon TikTok tradwife and her freakishly controlling husband — had to halt sales of their raw milk when testing proved it was chock full of E. coli.
Via KPCW:
According to records obtained by KPCW from the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, health inspectors found two health violations during milk testing in summer 2025.
Tests from late May and early June revealed too-high levels of coliform, the family of bacteria that includes E. coli, in the farm’s bottled raw milk.
The state’s dairy program manager told KPCW that Ballerina Farm then made the decision to pause raw milk sales.
A Ballerina Farm spokesperson said raw milk was only being sold at its Kamas location. The raw milk was tested daily, and milk that failed its tests was not sold.
She added the company is only selling pasteurized milk for the time being.
“Producing raw milk takes careful planning from a facility and infrastructure standpoint,” the farm said in a statement Jan. 29. “Unfortunately, we learned this after the fact.”
That really seems like the kind of thing they should have checked into before, you know, trying to sell raw milk. It’s great that it was tested and that they recalled it, but it does say something that they were trying to sell it without having that information.
Proponents of raw milk insist that it tastes better than regular milk — but I ask you! Is it even possible for milk to taste good enough to risk food poisoning? It’s milk. There’s a definite ceiling for how good milk could possibly be, and it’s not very high. Because, again, it is milk.
They also claim that it contains extra special “nutrients” that they think go away when it is pasteurized, which is not an actual thing. They, apparently, think scientists are lying about this like how I thought my mom was lying when she said that “all the nutrients are in the crust” because she did have a thing about people who eat the middle of the bread and leave the crust. Turns out, the scientists were right and so was my mom. Because people don’t actually go around making things like that up just to ruin your day and/or breakfast.
Pasteurization wasn’t invented for no reason. It’s not like Louis Pasteur set out one day to make milk less tasty and nutritious, for funsies, and everyone decided they preferred their milk that way. No. He was trying to keep people from getting sick and dying from the bacteria in milk, a thing you would think most people would be into.
I do hope, because I’m not a monster, that these people find a slightly less deadly way by which to own the libs, as this seems to be turning out far worse for them than for us.
PREVIOUSLY ON WONKETTE!
Would all the trumpoids please drink raw milk, eat raw chikin and pork, drink a gallon of beef tallow a day, and not vaccinate, and stupid themselves off to hell.
Related but not: My company changed insurance providers at the start of the year, which meant all new "prior authorizations" for my specialty medication. Now remember, this is a second step med I had vaulted two providers ago. I was briefly on a third line med, but had to take a step back for a year bc my then new insurance wouldn't cover the better med until I proved clinically I needed the step up from the second my doctor skipped bc it wasn't as good as the newer med. Okay, whatever, did that. Been on second line since July and have actually seen positive results, measurable in bloodwork as recently as November. Well, my new insurance Aetna just categorically declined my prescription with a literal "she doesn't need this" rejection --- which my doctors were mystified and annoyed by. They had to file an appeal, which of course meant disruption of my medication and missed dosages. The appeal was just accepted today and I am going back on the med - insured - after 2 weeks of missed dosages, and all will be fine. But it is clear that my insurance just pressed a button to reject bc they can and bc they don't want to pay for anything and don't care that this rejection causes material health harm. It's just POLICY to make getting care as hard as possible. TL;DR: the US health care system is horrible and I am increasingly unsure why I continue to live in this country.