A northwestern Alberta municipality is moving a resolution at the upcoming Rural Municipalities of Alberta convention to ask the federal government to allow the on-farm sale of raw or unpasteurized dairy products.
Buying and selling raw milk in Canada has been illegal since 1991, when it was banned due to concerns of food-borne illnesses.
Pasteurization is a process that involves heating raw milk to at least 63 C to kill harmful bacteria, such as salmonella and E. coli.
The Municipal District of Greenview, located about 390 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, said many people within the community already consume unpasteurized milk, despite the risk.
"There actually is quite a bit [of demand]," said Reeve Ryan Ratzlaff.
"People are looking for more options for revenue to keep small farms sustainable, and there's a lot more people looking for independence from markets and things like that where they can buy locally sourced goods."
The resolution requests that sale of raw milk be "under specified conditions" to informed consumers.
It also requests provinces be allowed to develop frameworks that include producer food safety training, labelling requirements, traceability, on-farm oversight, and the option to pilot direct sale programs in rural municipalities.
Ratzlaff said he looked at regulations in the United States and other regions as he was writing the proposed motion.
"Part of me says let's take the rules off and let people choose, and do what they want, but we also need to have that aspect of making sure someone is safe," he said.
"I would say this is the first step of many hurdles, to get it to the Rural Municipalities of Alberta level, and then to promote it to the province, and then the province has to take it to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency."
Province does not support raw milk sales
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture confirmed the province does not support the sale of raw or unpasteurized milk and notes the sale of unpasteurized dairy is prohibited throughout Canada under the federal Food and Drugs Act and regulations.
"It is associated with harmful bacteria that can only be eliminated through pasteurization," it said.
The background section for the resolution from Greenview notes that a 2023 review by Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation concluded that the risks associated with raw milk outweighed the benefits.
Proponents of raw milk argue one of the biggest reasons to allow buying and selling of the product is the growing popularity.
"The truth is that the raw milk is being sold anyway," said Golda David, an Albertan representative of an advocacy group called the Canadian Artisan Dairy Alliance (CADA).
"It would be good if it was regulated and therefore safer."
The CADA website notes that Canada is the only country in the G7 with a total ban on raw milk.
A 2023 commentary published by the Public Health Agency of Canada cites a 2017 study, which found that "unpasteurized dairy products cause 840 times more illnesses and 45 times more hospitalizations than pasteurized products, making raw milk a dangerous food."
Safety
Timothy Caulfield, a professor in the School of Law and Public Health at the University of Alberta said pasteurization has been a very successful public health measure and social media is fuelling claims about the supposed benefits of raw milk.
"It's absolutely clear that pasteurized milk is safer. There's just no doubt about it. And there's very little evidence to suggest that raw milk is healthier for you," he said.
"But that's not what the influencers are saying, or that's not what the movement is saying. They are saying [pasteurized milk] is demonstrably bad for you. And there's just no evidence to support that."
He said in his research he has seen advocates for raw milk point to countries in Europe like France, who use raw milk in their cheeses.
"It's these niche products where you see raw milk being used. It's not really justification for the broader raw milk movement we are seeing right now."
David, the raw milk advocate, suggests some of the measures could include health checks for dairy cows and on-site testing kits available for purchase by farmers.
"We know that raw milk is not entirely safe. There are bacteria and diseases that you can get from raw milk. If it was regulated, we could prevent those things from happening."
The RMA 2025 fall convention starts Monday in Edmonton and finishes up on Thursday.