Raw‑milk Hearing Moment

Rep. Rosa DeLauro used a House hearing with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to press him on raw milk, reviving a fight over a product federal agencies still warn people not to drink. (c-span.org) The exchange came during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on May 14, 2025, when Kennedy was defending the department’s fiscal 2026 budget request before lawmakers. NBC Connecticut later posted a clip of DeLauro questioning why Kennedy had not publicly told Americans that unpasteurized milk is dangerous. (c-span.org) (tiktok.com) Raw milk is milk that has not been pasteurized, meaning it has not been heated long enough to kill disease-causing germs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says pasteurized milk offers the same nutritional benefits without the risks tied to raw milk consumption. (cdc.gov) The Food and Drug Administration says raw milk can carry pathogens including E. coli, Listeria, Campylobacter, Brucella, and Salmonella, and says pasteurization kills those pathogens without materially changing milk’s nutritional quality. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says children under 5, adults over 65, pregnant women, and immunocompromised people face higher risks of severe illness. (fda.gov) (cdc.gov) The argument landed in a larger Kennedy debate because raw milk has been part of his political brand since the 2024 campaign. NBC News reported in June 2025 that Kennedy had called himself a fan of raw milk and had included it in a postelection list of products he said federal officials had unfairly suppressed. (nbcnews.com) That put Kennedy at odds with the standing federal position even after he took office. The Food and Drug Administration still bars interstate sales of raw milk for direct human consumption under a regulation that remained in effect as of April 2026, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends choosing pasteurized dairy. (ecfr.gov) (cdc.gov) Public health officials have kept issuing fresh warnings while the politics intensified. In a July 2025 outbreak report, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 171 Salmonella Typhimurium cases in California and four other states were linked to commercially distributed raw milk, with 70% of cases and 82% of hospitalizations occurring in people under 18. (cdc.gov) Federal agencies also tied raw milk warnings to bird flu after the virus was detected in U.S. dairy cows. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told clinicians in 2024 that unpasteurized milk had become a new concern because of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1), while the agency said pasteurization makes milk safe to consume. (cdc.gov 1) (cdc.gov 2) Kennedy’s critics point to those warnings and outbreak reports as the reason DeLauro’s question hit so hard on camera. Kennedy’s allies and raw-milk advocates have argued for consumer choice and lighter regulation, but NBC News reported in June 2025 that Kennedy had not moved to relax federal rules or reverse official warnings after becoming secretary. (kffhealthnews.org) (nbcnews.com) So the viral moment was not really about one hearing line. It was a public replay of a narrower fact that has not changed: Kennedy has been associated with raw-milk advocacy, while the federal health agencies he runs still say Americans should choose pasteurized milk instead. (nbcnews.com) (cdc.gov)