The Raw Deal

The raw milk underground isn't for the faint of heart. Some who believe raw milk is nature's perfect food have to break -- or find creative ways to skirt -- state and federal laws. Then they have to ignore the warnings of medical associations and government agencies that rank drinking raw milk alongside BASE jumping and gas huffing. The Food and Drug Administration even compares it to playing Russian roulette.

And yet there are thousands of folks all over the country who eagerly seek out raw milk, even though it can be expensive, difficult to obtain and -- oh, yes -- illegal to sell. In some states, health agencies are cracking down on raw milk suppliers. In Ohio, an undercover sting recently busted an Amish farmer who was selling raw milk on the sly.

An undercover sting? Over milk? What's going on here?

TO FIND OUT, I TRACKED DOWN THE LEADER OF THE RAW MILK UNDERGROUND. I had hoped she would insist on meeting somewhere discreet -- a quiet park, perhaps, or a Rosslyn parking garage. Maybe there would be code names and intrigue. Instead she suggested we grab lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Fine, I said, trying not to sound disappointed.

Sally Fallon is president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, a nonprofit organization that promotes a return to a more primitive diet. Its namesake was a Cleveland dentist who traveled the world in the 1930s and '40s studying the diets of nonindustrialized cultures. Price concluded, among other things, that animal fats are good for you and that dairy products -- cheese, butter, milk -- should be eaten raw.

Fallon looks like the glamour shot on the back of her popular alternative cookbook, Nourishing Traditions. She is smartly dressed, hair swept back, the hint of a smirk on her lips. The impression is more corporate executive than radical nutritionist. But when the waitress comes by for our drink orders, Fallon says, without looking up from her menu, "I'd like a glass of raw milk, but you probably don't have that, do you?"

The waitress says nothing, apparently at a loss. Fallon settles for a bottle of Perrier with lime.

She first came across raw milk in the early 1970s. She had trouble producing enough breast milk for her three young boys and didn't trust commercial infant formula. So Fallon, who has a master's degree in English from the University of California at Los Angeles, did what any self-respecting graduate student would do: She started researching the topic. In the course of her reading, she came across a recipe for infant formula based on raw milk. She tried it, and, according to Fallon, her boys thrived, transforming into the happiest, healthiest children imaginable. They never had earaches, digestion trouble or allergies. She can't remember them ever being sick. "It was just magic," she says.

She's been spreading the raw milk gospel ever since. Her cookbook, in which she offers a dizzying menu of nutritional do's and don'ts, is treated as a culinary bible by some ("essential for survival" writes one of the more than 150 Amazon reviewers) and has sold 200,000 copies. Her foundation brought in just under $700,000 in revenue last year, more than double what it collected in 2003 (the bulk of that comes from dues and donations from its 9,000 members). Her writings address a range of nutrition topics, but her views on milk have garnered the most attention, not to mention scorn.

Fallon wishes to do away with pasteurization altogether. And homogenization, too. For those who have never thought much about either process, here's a quick rundown: Milk is pasteurized by heating it to just over 160 degrees Fahrenheit and maintaining that temperature for 15 seconds to destroy unhealthful bacteria. Homogenization is a method for breaking down fat globules by forcing milk through lots of tiny holes at great pressure. This keeps the cream from rising to the top. Fallon believes that pasteurization and homogenization make milk unhealthful and harder to digest by destroying vitamins and enzymes. Pasteurized milk is, she says, "toxic."

In other words, Fallon is fighting against what is considered perhaps the greatest advance in food safety in the last 100 years. To many scientists and dietitians, this seems unwise. Okay, let's be frank: Some people think Sally Fallon is nuts. Including, it would seem, the people at the Food and Drug Administration.

THE FDA'S 2006 SCIENCE FORUM WAS HELD IN APRIL IN A CAVERNOUS, BLUE-CARPETED HALL at the Washington Convention Center. There were row after row of poster presentations with titles such as "Characterizing Perfluorochemical Migration From Food Contact Paper" and "Evaluation of Nanomaterials' Immunotoxicity: Examples of Polystyrene Nanoparticles." There were also free cookies.