Mark McAfee, the California raw milk producer who has been the subject of several bird flu-related product recalls, says a transition team for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. encouraged him to apply for a job at the Food and Drug Administration.
McAfee, chief executive of Fresno-based Raw Farm, told The Times that he complied with the request and applied for the position of “FDA raw milk policy and standards development consultant.”
The recent raw milk recalls were the result of positive tests for H5N1 avian influenza in McAfee's cows. Since then, his farms have been quarantined and the state has stopped selling raw milk and cream. Raw Farm has voluntarily issued recalls for all milk and cream products remaining in stores.
McAfee's farm is also involved in at least 11 lawsuits related to a salmonella outbreak that sickened 171 people in California and occurred between October 2023 and May 2024, according to Bill Marler, a Seattle-area food safety attorney.
Asked whether McAfee might be tapped for a federal food advisory role, Marler wrote in an email: “Clown Car.”
Last month, President-elect Donald Trump announced that he had chosen Kennedy to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and other agencies.
Kennedy has been a vocal supporter of raw milk and criticized FDA guidelines that prohibit interstate sales of the product. According to McAfee, Kennedy is also a raw milk consumer and customer.
McAfee said he was not officially selected for the advisory role; Kennedy's nomination as Secretary of Health and Human Services still requires Senate confirmation.
The Times has reached out to the Trump transition team and Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again team for comment but has not yet heard back.
McAfee is the largest raw milk producer in the country, raising 1,800 dairy cows on two farms – one in Fresno, the other outside Hanford.
Its raw milk products include whole milk, cream, kefir and cheese – all of which can be sold in stores in California, but not across state lines.
However, FDA regulations do not apply to its line of pet food products, which can be sold outside of California – albeit with warning labels indicating the products are not intended for human consumption.
McAfee is also president of the Raw Milk Institute, an educational and advocacy organization designed to help dairy farmers establish standards and practices for raw milk production.
In an interview with The Times two weeks ago, McAfee said that while he was pleased with Kennedy's change in FDA policy on raw milk, such a move would have to be done with deliberate care.
“I am committed to ensuring that whatever happens, it is not chaotic, crazy or just a free-for-all, but that it is very constructive, with training and testing for farmers and high standards,” he said. “I am very interested in working to make raw milk a constructive, high-quality, healthy, wonderful, sprouting and delicious food.”
He noted that Montana lawmakers passed a “food freedom” law in 2021 that legalized the unregulated sale of raw milk and raw milk products. Soon after, people started getting sick.
McAfee said he flew to meet with raw milk producers and helped them set standards that included training, testing and quality control.
For example, he found that a dairy farmer was cleaning his milk pails with chlorine, which McAfee says doesn't work against fats and biofilms.
“It was dirty,” he said.
Instead, he showed farmers how to clean their equipment with hot water and soap.
“You have to have standards,” he said.
McAfee's milk is strictly regulated by the State of California, which regularly tests for foodborne contaminants such as Campylobacter, Cryptosporidium, etc. E.coli, Listeria, Brucella and Salmonella and other bacterial diseases in his milk.
He said unlike traditional dairies where the milk is pasteurized after collection, he is required to test the cows for pathogens and said he only milks disease-free cows.
He has his own laboratory where he tests for Listeria, Campylobacter, E.coli O157:H7 and salmonella in his large tanks and cows.
He said his cows are carefully cleaned before they are milked. And the milk is immediately sent to a blast chiller, which lowers the temperature of the milk from 100 degrees to 35 degrees in about two minutes, he said. The milk remains at that temperature until it is delivered to stores, he said.
Still, experts say bacteria can still contaminate milk — even if it comes from a squeaky-clean udder. The FDA, CDC and other health officials say the public should only drink pasteurized milk.
Since 2006, Raw Farm — formerly known as Organic Pastures Dairy Co. — has been involved in 13 recalls, including the three bird flu-related recalls last month.
The other recalls were the result of bacterial contamination, including E.coliListeria, Campylobacter and Salmonella. In some cases, people became seriously ill with hemolytic uremic syndrome – kidney failure.
There was also a recent outbreak of raw milk salmonella poisoning from Raw Farm involving at least 171 people, “most of whom were children,” according to a report on the outbreak by the state Center for Infectious Diseases.
McAfee said if he were selected for an advisory role at the FDA, he would consider creating a certification program for raw milk production, such as organic farming, that includes farmer education and training.
He also said he would look into changing food liability laws, “where you can't get a million dollars for someone who has diarrhea for a week.”
McAfee said the government should consider raw milk and other full-fledged food insurance programs, such as the USDA's crop insurance program, which covers farmers whose fields and crops are affected by drought, floods or fires – or the newer dairy insurance program, which provides money for dairy farmers, whose flocks are infected with bird flu.
“I would strongly recommend that all whole foods, maybe vegetables, eggs, carrots — by God, those poor carrots — get food liability insurance… so people can get those foods, because right now insurance companies are… and said, 'Oh, you You're on the naughty list, so there's no insurance for you anymore,'” he said. “And so you're going to have stores that offer less and less of these whole foods that are critical to actually restoring people's health.”