The customers came from far and wide on a sunny November morning. They strolled past raw buffalo ice cream, raw chocolate milk and camel milk, grabbed raw cottage cheese, raw butter, raw lemon yogurt, all labeled “not for human consumption” or “for pet consumption only.” Some requested raw milk in their coffee orders at the truck next door.

They were gym rats, granola moms, young couples, Donald Trump supporters, single men trying to be healthier, and immigrants from countries where raw milk is a way of life, not a forbidden fruit. Some were trying raw dairy for their first time. Others came prepared, speeding out of the store with giant coolers so that the milk would not rapidly spoil when exposed to the warm South Florida air. One man wore a hat that said “in raw we trust.”

Tucked away in a far-west corner of Broward County, the Southwest Ranches farmer’s market has quickly become a hot spot for the state’s raw dairy consumers, even though Florida law forbids the sale of raw milk to humans. Customers come despite the legal barriers, risks of illness and warnings from public health officials not to consume unpasteurized milk. And they are not alone: Raw milk has surged in popularity across the state and the rest of the country over the last few years, a trend in part driven by online influencers within rightwing, anti-establishment circles of the web.

A way of life once relegated to certain segments of the population has permeated the federal government with the arrival of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a staunch supporter of the beverage who has claimed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has subjected it to “aggressive suppression.” Yet despite raw milk’s popularity in Florida and the state’s newfound reputation as a bastion of the right, it is one of the few in the country to completely prohibit the sale of raw dairy products for human consumption, allowing them to be sold only as pet food.

The result is a thriving market that sells people whatever they like as long as it’s packaged in a container that says “not for human consumption” or “for pet consumption only.”

Carolina Hernandez, 30, bought the Southwest Ranches market four years ago and has seen it grow from what she says was a failing business into a subject of social media acclaim that attracts influencers and customers from around the country.

“I feel like our country and our community, it’s hungry for this kind of food,” she said as she sat a picnic table outside of the market. Under the name of the market, her navy blue shirt read “God is Good.”

“They’re desperate to find real, natural food.”

The market used to only offer raw milk, but now, Hernandez said, it sells “the whole world of raw dairy heaven,” many of its products coming all the way from Amish country in Pennsylvania. Of course, Hernandez added, “It is a pet food item. So, I sell a lot of raw milk for pets, for cats and dogs.”

‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’

The resurgence of raw milk is not new. For a long time, proponents have battled with scientists and government officials over the restrictions placed on consumption in the U.S. Federal law prohibits the sale of raw milk across state lines, and the FDA warns it can pose a “serious health risk.”

But the rules surrounding the industry are largely left up to the states. And few states are as strict as Florida.

In the vast majority of states, raw milk sales to people are legal. Most states, including Texas, Georgia and New York, allow people to buy the milk as long as it is purchased directly from farms for consumption. Several other states, including California, Pennsylvania and South Carolina, allow raw milk sales in regular retail stores.

Florida is one of only a few states, including Louisiana, Maryland and Indiana, that forbid raw milk product sales except as pet food, according to the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund.

But the law hasn’t stopped Florida’s raw milk industry, which has flourished in recent years.

Outside of Southwest Ranches Farmer’s Market, several other raw dairy operations dot the region, including Marando Farms in Davie. Others are not brick-and-mortar shops and act only as a pick-up place, such as Heritage Hen in Delray Beach, which sells raw milk, eggs and micro-greens, according to its website. Similar to Heritage Hen, Raw Milk Boca offers raw milk, kefir, yogurt, cream, butter, beef, eggs, sourdough bread, pizza dough and mushrooms. Local farmer’s markets also sell the product; at the Delray Beach Green Market, customers can buy raw dairy at a couple of stands.

As long as products are labeled as pet food, buyers can do as they like.

“It’s like a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ state,” said Jojo Milano, the owner of Delilah’s Dairy, a goat milk dairy farm.

Many in the community treat the law with a sort of “wink wink” attitude. That includes Edward Yauner, who was at the Southwest Ranches Farmer’s Market on a recent Saturday picking up raw milk and eggs. He had switched to the milk and other unprocessed foods in an effort to lose weight, and he hopes the Trump administration’s reinstatement will make raw milk and other “banned” foods easier to get.

“This food is for my pet,” Yauner said, using air quotes, then added, “My pet has been doing very, very well.”

Still, many sellers fear losing their license or getting into trouble with the state for selling the milk too openly to people. Some declined to speak to the South Florida Sun Sentinel on the record about their businesses out of fear of punishment; others were careful in what they would say.

The Delilah’s Dairy website writes in its FAQ section, “Raw milk is for animal food consumption only. Do not tell me you are buying it for yourself to drink.”

When someone would call Milano asking for raw milk for their baby, she told the Sun Sentinel in 2011 that she would say no. “I don’t know if it’s a ruse,” she explained. “If you don’t follow my rules, no, I’m not selling you milk.”

Hernandez says that she can’t suggest the milk is for humans, but consumption of it is a personal decision.

“As a business owner, I cannot say that it is for human consumption, right?” she said. “I cannot refer the dairy for any human, right? And it is more of a personal decision, more of a personal research, whoever wants to consume raw dairy … Unfortunately, because of the law, we are not able to recommend anything. But, like I said, it’s a movement, right?”

The state’s strict laws are also at odds with the reality in many countries outside of the U.S. Many South Florida raw milk consumers have roots in Latin American countries like Colombia and Cuba where unpasteurized dairy is readily accessible.

Hernandez emigrated to the U.S. from Colombia when she was 12 and sees the market as a connection to her childhood.

“The change in food is 100% different,” she said. “I feel like we are very familiar with this type of food in my country.”

A growing obsession

On an idyllic farm in the middle of Utah, Hannah Neeleman films herself harvesting raw milk from the family cow, Tulip. She wears a cozy flannel as she pours the milk into glass jars. Later, she’ll use the raw milk — sometimes from a sheep instead of a cow — as she prepares recipes like whipped cream, banana pudding, and mozzarella cheese, to an audience of over 10 million followers.

Elsewhere on the web, doctor influencers Paul Saladino and Eric Berg have shared videos to their millions of followers analyzing the health benefits of the milk and denouncing the stigma and legal barriers. Saladino was once a major proponent of the carnivore diet, a trend that often coincides with raw milk consumption and involves consuming mainly animal products like eggs and steak and little in the way of fruits, vegetables or grains. Later, Saladino quit the carnivore diet and began eating more fruit.

People like Neeleman, Saladino and Berg have all helped usher new demographics into the raw milk renaissance. Their videos found a convert in Jensen Dowdle, a 25-year-old man living in Polk County who says his raw milk habits began as a sort of fusion of the “two different worlds” of influencers, as well as his upbringing.

“I grew up with a hate of the government,” he explained. “Just an intense distrust that was kind of nurtured from the very start.”

After his first child, Dowdle gained 30 to 40 pounds. He began watching Saladino and Burg for diet tips and found them not only promoting raw milk but other practices like intermittent fasting and reducing carbs. Then his wife introduced him to Ballerina Farm, who helped “romanticize country living.”

“You see that, you go, ‘OK, she’s drinking it and her kids are, and you see, online, people like RFK and all these people who go a little more into the science of it and push against what health agencies are saying,” he explained. “So it kind of got me a little curious myself.”

The craze has made its way to many similar consumers across Florida. Data indicates an increasing number of people are opting for raw milk in recent years, while influencers like Saladino have even visited the Southwest Ranches Farmer’s Market, according to Hernandez.

“We definitely do know that there is a growing number of people that are seeking this out as a commodity,” said Benjamin Anderson, an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental and Global Health at the University of Florida. He and other researchers have found a “rising trend in both the demand and the supply of raw milk” across the state over the past couple of years.

The growing popularity of raw milk is due, in part, to the “politicization of public health,” Anderson said, which ties into other choices such as vaccine hesitancy. Raw milk influencers also have gained a substantial following among those on the right like Dowdle, a shift that coincides with increasingly anti-establishment sentiments surrounding health.

Neeleman and her family are Mormon, and though they are not outspokenly conservative, they promote more conservative living and gender roles along the lines of other popular internet trends like the “trad wife,” an aesthetic based around women whose primary identity is being a homemaker.

Dowdle voted for Trump and considers himself “very conservative,” though he added that he is not a “cult follower” of Trump.

“There’s things about the MAGA agenda I really love and it makes me very proud of my country,” he explained.

As a conservative raw milk drinker, Dowdle questions why the Florida government, despite its embrace of the anti-establishment right wing, is so late to the trend. Most recently, Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo put out guidance against fluoridation of the water supply. Throughout the pandemic, Ladapo has repeatedly recommended against the COVID vaccine.

“If we are coding raw milk for the GOP, like what is holding back the holy state of Florida from getting this done?” Dowdle asked.

Anderson believes most of Florida’s raw milk sellers are homesteaders, many of them born out of the COVID-19 pandemic when people were stuck at home and began turning to new practices such as baking homemade sourdough bread, growing fresh vegetables in a backyard garden, and even farming. He and other researchers identified more than 115 producers of raw milk in the state, but only 30% of those had registered for a permit that allows the sale of pet food.

“I do see a rise in the number of sources of raw milk that are really the small homesteading operations,” Anderson said. “Individuals that are setting up because they have a perspective on farming as a part of their life and how that fits into society. And so there’s some social ideology here that’s playing a role and that is, I think, driving some of the increases in more raw milk production.”

Meg Connolly is another recent raw milk convert. The digital marketing consultant and real estate broker who lives in Miami first gave it a try in 2022 after hearing about it in a California coffee shop.

At the time, Connolly said she was severely lactose intolerant and chugged oat milk every day. Her husband had to start buying it in bulk. Even her phone reflected her obsession with an oat milk-themed case.

“I was insane over the oat milk,” she said.

Connolly was dealing with a host of female health complications at the time — endometriosis, menstruation problems, fertility issues and polycystic ovarian syndrome — and those issues, coupled with her desire to ditch the sugar and seed oil content found in most popular oat milk products, led her to raw milk.

“I tried it, and I was like this actually tastes amazing. And what really shocked me was I didn’t have a reaction at all,” she said. “My dairy intolerance prior to this was so severe that if sour cream touched the same guacamole spoon, I was down for the count for 24 hours, keeled over in pain.”

“The fact that I had zero reaction to it was what made me go really deep down the rabbit hole and quit oat milk entirely and find a way to get raw dairy in the state of Florida,” she said.

Connolly turned to the Southwest Ranches Farmer’s Market to get her fix, and she said she’s seen popularity  grow for the market’s raw dairy products, with crowds increasing in size.

“I would really like and hope to see legalization where we can actually just go and get it at the store,” she said.

Many other raw milk consumers once preferred vegan products, then decided that the health benefits of raw dairy surpassed them. They cite positive changes such as better skin, a lack of allergic reaction, and increased energy as a result of consuming raw dairy products. Most say they drink it raw specifically because they believe pasteurization removes nutrients and flavor.

Colette Schnabel used to be a hardcore vegan. Now the Fort Lauderdale resident has gone largely carnivore, part of a broader approach to health that she shares on Instagram to 20,000 followers.

“I wasn’t thriving,” Schnabel said when thinking back to her vegan lifestyle. “I didn’t look well; my eyes were kind of sunken in. When I eat carnivore and I stick to raw dairies, I have an abundance of energy. My skin is so plump, I’m glowing.”

Online, she refers to herself as a “biohacking mama” and works for a media organization called “Biohack Yourself,” which filmed a documentary featuring RFK two years ago that is set to release in December; she’s stood by him ever since.

Schnabel also gives the raw milk to her children, as do many consumers. She used to have them drink vegan milks — anything from pistachio to coconut — but “saw a huge difference” when she switched over. Suddenly, her daughter’s belly was no longer bloated.

Dowdle, meanwhile, suffered from allergies.

“My whole life, I’ve always had my nose plugged,” he said. “Since I started drinking three months ago, I can breathe through both my nostrils.”

At the Southwest Ranches Farmer’s Market, Eddith Grau carried a basket with raw milk and quail eggs inside. She started taking trips there to pick up raw milk to address health issues her children experience: Her son has eczema and her daughter has a milk protein allergy. The quail eggs are for her mother who is undergoing chemotherapy.

“We started with the raw milk to try something different,” she said.

Is raw milk healthy?

While some studies show benefits to raw or farm milk consumption, scientists argue that the benefits do not outweigh the risks and that some of the benefits cited by users may have to do with other aspects of the milk rather than the lack of pasteurization.

A study published in Nutrition Today found that the loss of nutrients from pasteurization is not significant, but did find “very minor” losses of vitamin C, folate, vitamin B12, vitamin B6, and thiamine. The authors noted  that pasture-grazed cows likely have more nutritious milk, and sometimes proponents of raw milk “confuse feed-related changes in milk composition with those caused directly by pasteurization.”

Other studies have found that childhood consumption of raw milk helps prevent allergies and asthma and could contain probiotics.

But raw milk is also more likely to carry disease-causing bacteria and viruses, scientists say, and it can spoil easily if not stored properly, introducing even greater health risks.

Anderson said he and other researchers are concerned about the impact of the new trend on public health. A substantial amount of current and historical epidemiological data shows drinking completely unadulterated, straight-from-the-cow milk carries “a great risk for food-safety pathogens,” he said.

This year alone, raw milk has caused multiple outbreaks, health officials say. At least 165 people were sickened from a Salmonella outbreak linked to raw milk from a farm in California. An E. coli outbreak linked to raw milk in Washington sickened three people.

“There’s a much greater chance that you’re going to expose yourself to something and be infected,” Anderson said. And it’s not just bacteria, he added, “now we also have these concerns around viral exposures.”

For example, outbreaks of bird flu in poultry and dairy cows have been occurring in more than a dozen states in recent months, which Anderson said means the “virus is starting to change and starting to spill over or transmit between species more readily than in the past.”

The bird flu virus, known as H5N1, “replicates in pretty high concentrations on raw milk,” Anderson said. Some farm workers have already contracted bird flu, and the concern is that people who drink raw milk are at a higher risk of contracting it too.

“If that virus has the potential to transmit from human to human, that’s when we have a pandemic potential,” he said, adding: “The more people who are exposed to the virus, the more probability we’re introducing there to this potential change happening. And then if it does happen, then yes, it becomes a public health issue, and everybody is impacted because that virus can now impact anybody.”

Experts maintain that the benefits simply do not outweigh the risks.

According to the Southeast Dairy Foods Research Center at North Carolina State University: “There are no science-based, data-supported reasons that raw milk is healthier than pasteurized milk and certainly no reasons that would outweigh the risks associated with consuming raw milk.”

Because cow’s milk naturally contains protein, fat, sugar, vitamins and minerals, the center called it “nearly perfect food,” but also contended that because of milk’s makeup, it provides nutrition for bacteria.

“While dairy farmers work really hard to keep the cow and their environment clean and pathogen free, bacteria are everywhere. Most are not harmful, but if milk were to become contaminated after it leaves the cow and not subjected to pasteurization, it increases the risk of causing illness in people,” according to the center’s emailed statement. “That is a concern, particularly for vulnerable people like young kids, elderly, or anyone with a compromised immune system, but really for all humans. It is not worth the risk.”

Drinking raw milk was likened to choosing not to wear a seatbelt when in the car: “It’s a law; we know that it can save your life in an accident, but some people still don’t do it.”

Within Florida’s raw milk circles, sicknesses have popped up. A recent post from a mother in a raw milk Facebook group warned about one of the state’s dairies, saying that her daughter had gotten sick twice after drinking the milk and was hospitalized the first time for three days.

The comments section was flooded with supporters who shared similar experiences and critics who defended the dairy and raw milk in general.

“You have no evidence and yet are brutal in casting blame,” one person wrote.

“Maybe you should check vaccine ingredients and not blame the raw milk,” another said. The woman replied that her daughter had never been vaccinated.

Many raw milk proponents argue that the spreading of pathogens can be completely eliminated so long as the milk is acquired and processed correctly. Mark McAfee, who founded the Raw Milk Institute in California in 2011, said he believes drinking raw milk is completely safe, so long as a stringent three-step process is followed in acquiring it: high standards, food safety programs for farmers, and testing to ensure those standards are being met.

“Those are the three things that need to happen if we’re going to have raw milk really emerge,” he said.

Cows need to be healthy and fed well, for example, McAfee said. And equipment used in milking the cows always must be clean to avoid contamination of any kind, along with chilling the milk almost immediately after it’s taken from the cow.

The lack of a framework for raw milk production is what leads to issues, not the raw milk itself, McAfee said.

“There are no standards nationally or internationally,” he said. “So yes, there’s lots of problems, tons of problems, because there’s no consensus.”

McAfee said he “stands with (Kennedy) 100%” on the idea to curb the current regulation on raw milk.

In August, Kennedy’s former running mate, Nicole Shanahan, posted a video of her visit to the Raw Milk Institute where McAfee explained the organization’s process in acquiring raw milk.

“The only way America will ever be better and happier and healthier is to have our gut microbiomes intact because we’re consuming whole food nutrition, and maybe big industrial complexes can change,” he said. “America is stuck on the sick paradigm, and RFK is talking about a health paradigm, and that is a transition that’s really key.”

To legalize or not to legalize?

Not all fans of raw milk want to see it fully legalized. They say it could present more obstacles, expenses and liability issues for the sellers. Some who consume the milk say they prefer to buy it directly from a farm.

Grau fears that if raw milk lined the dairy aisle at Publix, its value would become diminished, similar to the way “organic” has lost its meaning. Still, she is hopeful that the reinstatement of the Trump administration will loosen some of the current restrictions.

“That is my hope with RFK Jr.,” she said.

Other new-to-raw-milk Floridians, like Dowdle, think its legal status in Florida is a relic of the past.

Recently, Dowdle reached out to his local representative, Republican Josie Tomkow, and got in touch with her legal aide to talk about raw milk.

“She just hits me back with ‘Oh, this is a federal issue,’” he recalled. “‘Go talk to your federal representative.’ But part of me was thinking, okay, but it’s legal in all these states.”

Next, Dowdle reached out to State Sen. Colleen Burton, R-Winter Haven, but didn’t get a response. He plans to keep trying. He pointed to other states, like California, which he referred to as a liberal “hellscape” but where the milk is legal and farmers must meet certain safety criteria.

“Why doesn’t the ‘free state of Florida’ have these kinds of regulations so we can drink this raw milk?” he asked. “Why are we drinking pet food out here?”