A farmer pours raw milk into a container with dairy cows in the background. (Getty Images)
A bill that would expand the sale of raw milk to Arkansas farmers markets overwhelmingly passed the House on Monday.
House Bill 1048, sponsored by Republican Rep. Cameron Cooper of Romance, told his colleagues his proposal was about “food freedom and food security, and it promotes the concept of buying and shopping locally.”
Arkansas ranks worst in the nation for food insecurity; more than 19% of the population lacks reliable access to adequate food, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture study.
As a farmer himself, Cooper said he was familiar with hurdles in existing law for customers to purchase raw sheep, goat or cow milk from farmers. In addition to raw milk being available at farmers markets, the bill would allow farmers to deliver the product to customers.
Raw milk, or milk that has not yet been pasteurized to kill disease-causing germs, can expose people to E.coli, listeria and salmonella, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The national health agency notes that while good practices on farms can reduce contamination, “they cannot guarantee safety from harmful germs.”
Per HB1048, a disclaimer about the risks of drinking raw milk will remain on each label. The label must include the name and address of the farm that produced the product. It also states the consumer assumes all liability for illness that may occur after drinking the milk, Cooper said.
Three Democrats voted against the bill, Little Rock Reps. Andrew Collins and Tippi McCullough and Fayetteville’s David Whitaker. Despite their opposition, no one spoke against it on the House floor. Two other Democrats, Reps. Stephen Magie of Conway and Jessie McGruder of Marion, voted present.
“It’s not a safe product, and we shouldn’t signal otherwise by loosening up our laws,” Collins said in a statement Monday afternoon. “I don’t want to see more kids get sick because we are confused or ambivalent about public health, and that’s exactly what we’re going to see with this bill.”
Freshman Rep. Alyssa Brown, R-Heber Springs, vouched for the proposed legislation before the vote. She noted the increased availability will help people in her district who have transportation troubles or those who don’t have time to travel directly to the farmer selling the milk, as state law currently allows.
Brown represents House District 41, a rural region in the Ozark Mountains, and she said residents who currently want to purchase raw milk will sometimes have to drive 30 minutes down “an old dirt road.”
“For the more senior, older constituent[s] of mine, they are home-ridden sometimes, and they are not able to get out and purchase this milk,” Brown said. “And I have heard from my local farmers who have said, ‘I do not want to become a criminal by going and delivering to one of my customers.’”
Cooper filed a similar bill during the legislative session in 2023, but he withdrew it and instead recommended it for an interim study. His existing proposal expands on Act 1209 of 2013 that allowed farmers to sell 500 gallons of raw milk monthly from their homestead. It does not allow raw milk to be sold in stores.
“We aren’t even recommending anyone drink raw milk,” he said in his closing remarks. “People don’t wish to consume it, they’re totally free to go to the grocery store and buy [pasteurized] milk. But let’s leave the people alone who do want to consume it.”
HB1048 was transmitted to the Senate upon its passage in the House.
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