TikTok brings ‘raw milk' craze to Britain – despite it being 45 times more likely to put you in hospital

Yahoo

16-05-2025

On a sunny Wednesday morning in London's Borough Market, the Hook & Son Raw Dairy Shop is abuzz with customers.
'I drink a glass of raw milk with a couple of egg yolks and some raw honey mixed in every day, it's better for you because it hasn't been processed,' says Mostafa, a 17-year-old schoolboy who began drinking raw dairy about a year ago after discovering it on TikTok.
'Raw milk is so good for us, and when you think about it, big companies might not want us to be our healthiest because they profit from our poor health,' adds Lola, 21, a recent UCL graduate and weekly regular at the shop. 'That said, the main reason I continued to drink raw milk after trying it is because how it makes me feel, it makes me feel alive!'
Hook & Son is just one of several British businesses riding the raw dairy wave – sales of which have soared in recent years to the point where three million litres of raw milk are now sold in the UK annually, an almost five-fold jump from 600,000 litres in 2014.
Unlike dairy sold in the supermarket, the products – not only milk but raw ice cream, butter, yoghurt, and crème fraîche – are all unpasteurised.
Pasteurisation, invented by French chemist Louis Pasteur in the 19th century, is a heating process that kills off any harmful bacteria and viruses contained in dairy products. One of the most important scientific breakthroughs in history, it is credited with saving millions of lives from diseases like bovine tuberculosis, diphtheria, E.coli, listeria, and salmonella.
All the more curious, then, that the TikTok generation is abandoning it – especially given the threat posed by H5N1 bird flu which has been found in raw milk supplies across America.
While advocates claim – without robust evidence – that raw dairy can treat chronic illnesses, rebalance hormones, and strengthen the gut microbiome, UK health watchdogs have repeatedly warned that such products pose serious risks and strongly advise against consuming it.
Unpasteurised dairy products are 840 times more likely to cause illness than pasteurised dairy, and 45 times more likely to put you in hospital, according to a study published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
'We advise that raw or unpasteurised drinking milk and cream may contain harmful bacteria that can cause food poisoning. People with a weaker immune system are particularly vulnerable to food poisoning and should not consume it,' says the Food Standards Agency, the government body responsible for food safety and hygiene.
The risks are higher for pregnant women, young children, and the elderly, adds the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
Why then, are people suddenly going mad for unpasteurised dairy products in Britain?
Much of the craze can be traced back to the US, where the raw dairy movement has exploded on the back of social media.
Once the preserve of the health-conscious fringe, raw milk is now championed by figures across the cultural spectrum — from Goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow to anti-vaxxers and MAGA-esque preppers.
US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his nominee for Surgeon General, Dr. Casey Means, have both described US regulations on raw dairy as a 'war on public health,' arguing that unpasteurised products are 'superfoods' that should be made more widely accessible.
An estimated 10 million people are now thought to regularly consume raw dairy in America – at least 2,000 of which have fallen ill as a direct result of raw dairy consumption in the last 20 years, resulting in hundreds of hospitalisations and at least three deaths, according to the US Centre for Disease Control (CDC).
Concern among US health watchdogs has soared as H5N1 has spread throughout the nation's dairy farms, contaminating its vast milk supply chains.
Live traces of H5N1 have been found in raw milk sold in supermarkets in California, the epicentre of the outbreak.
The US CDC has reacted by issuing strongly worded warnings against consuming any raw dairy. 'The CDC strongly advises against consuming raw (unpasteurised) milk, even if it may not be contaminated with the H5N1 virus, due to the potential for various foodborne illnesses. While the risk of H5N1 transmission from raw milk is still being investigated, the CDC recommends avoiding raw milk products to minimise the risk of infection, including H5N1.'
The US CDC has also detailed the deaths of a dozen cats who died horribly after catching H5N1 from consuming untreated farmyard milk in Texas last year.
'Clinical signs in affected cats were depressed mental state, stiff body movements, ataxia, blindness, circling, and copious oculonasal discharge,' the CDC reported.
In Britain, H5N1 has infected many poultry farms, causing millions of birds to be slaughtered, but it has not so far been found in dairy farms or raw milk supplies.
Nevertheless, experts are worried that the trend in unpasteurised dairy is now taking off here.
'Raw milk doesn't offer any proven health benefits,' says Dr Tim Spector, British epidemiologist and founder of Zoe, a company specialising in gut health. 'What it does come with is a significantly high risk of infection.'
'Why is it so popular? Well, I think it taps into the idea that 'natural' is always better – but this naturalistic fallacy can be dangerous, just because something is natural, doesn't make it safe. Skip raw milk, and stick to the science.'
That certainly seems to chime with the vibe at Borough Market.
'We've really seen a rise in young customers over the past few years – teenagers, students, loads of them,' said a member of staff at the Hook & Son Raw Dairy Shop.
She added that she drinks a litre of raw milk a day herself, and says she has never felt better.
Scrolling through social media, it's easy to get swept up in the trend.
There are hundreds of thousands of videos promoting the supposed health benefits of unpasteurised dairy – claims often made with confidence, but little scientific backing.
'The truth is, when you boil milk it denatures the proteins [...] you lose the enzymes, the digestive enzymes,' says Niall Kiddle, an internet personality who advocates for a return to 'ancestral eating' as a path to better health.
In another clip, Coach Carnivore Cam – a manosphere influencer whose daily meals include two rare rib eye steaks, two lamb mince burgers, and ten fried eggs – says: 'It's funny to me how people think they are being healthier by drinking skimmed or semi-skimmed milk, but that couldn't be further from the truth'.
The trend seems to be popular with Notting Hill-type mums too.
'Let's talk about raw milk. I drink it and I give it to my daughter. I'm not a scientist or a nutritionist, but it aids digestion and boosts the immune system,' says Clara on TikTok, her infant child strapped to her chest in a £370 terry towelling baby carrier.
The online dialogue taps into a new-age obsession with 'natural' eating, driven in part by a growing anxiety around ultra-processed foods.
The same impulse may explain the rise of the so-called 'carnivore diet', which encourages people to consume a diet made up entirely of raw meat.
Rigorous studies, including systematic reviews published in Clinical Infectious Diseases and Foodborne Pathogens and Disease, show no health benefits for raw milk over pasteurised milk.
The same studies confirm that all key nutrients survive pasteurisation in pasteurised milk.
That science has been unable to penetrate the online movement, however.
'I'm into organic, healthy living,' says Monica, who comes to the Hook & Sons stand every week with her three year old daughter, Mia. 'In the beginning I was a bit scared, but it's absolutely lovely. My kids love it and I think it's very nutritious and very healthy.'
Since January, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) ordered the temporary closure of 43 more poultry farms after they became infected with H5N1.
Over the last year, more than two million farmed birds have been culled in Britain to try and stamp out H5N1 infection.
A recent survey of dairy farms in England, Scotland, and Wales tested 508 bulk milk samples and found no evidence of H5N1.
But the same study confirmed that H5N1 could survive in raw milk. Only with pasteurisation could it reliably be killed off.
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