Raw Milk Story: Were There Actual Illnesses? Why I’m “Agnostic” On Raw Milk, and…Colostrum

I covered the recent Amos Miller case update in a video which has gotten close to 100,000 views at this point.

A lot of comments on that video challenged the idea that anyone ever fell ill from Amos Miller’s products. Some seemed to suggest that there was no issue with Miller’s products whatsoever. That surprised me. But was that actually the case?

So I take a look at that question in this video. I also cover two other things. One was my comment that I’m “agnostic” on raw milk. Some folks didn’t like that 🙂 What did I mean?

Another one was my comments and thoughts on colostrum. What is it, and would I ever try it? You can watch the 10-minute video, or read the full transcript below (cleaned-up a bit but I left some colloquialisms in).

In this video, I also cleaned up one bit of my admittedly fast recap in the prior video. In that one, I mentioned a death which was claimed to be linked to Miller’s products. However, it wasn’t related to the more recent E. coli contamination connected to egg nog and last year’s raid, which I was discussing in the video at the time.

The death in question actually occurred in connection to a previous case 10 years earlier, in which authorities traced listeria poisoning to Miller’s farm, and which I had already covered in a prior video and story in 2024.

Miller’s side disputed that, stating, among other things. that the alleged victim had a pre-existing condition. My error was combining elements of the two cases into one in my fast recap. 

Video Transcript

Hey, guys. So I just wanna jump back on, cover a few things, following the video of the other day on Amos Miller and the latest developments in that case. I wanna hit three things in this video.

One is the question of, did people actually get sick from Miller’s products? There’s been some objections to the idea – that, you know, no one got sick, that didn’t happen.

Someone even wrote that “…Pretty sure you’re the only one to ever say anyone got sick from his products.” A lot of that surprised me, so I’m gonna go into that.

I’m also gonna talk about what did I mean when I say I’m “agnostic” on this issue. Some people didn’t like that.

And finally, I’m gonna touch on colostrum – this colostrum comment that I threw in in the video.

Has anyone gotten sick from Miller’s products?

So first thing, has anyone ever gotten sick from Miller’s products? Now that’s kind of the whole question here, isn’t it? That’s what the government is alleging, and you’ve got Miller’s side objecting. In the last video, I was running through a quick recap of what had happened prior to this, latest piece of news, which was more the point of the video.

So, in that recap, I mentioned the raid which happened in January 2024 on Miller’s Farm, allegedly due to tainted eggnog and beef that was sold at Miller’s Farm. In that case, the government came in. This was the big story last year, January 4, I believe. And they seized his products. There’s a video online.

It’s actually by the Lancaster Patriot – footage of the agents, the authorities carrying out some of the products that he was not supposed to be selling according to the government. Now, well if they’re gonna do that raid, they had to give a reason for that. Right? I mean, there is you know, what was the purpose of that?

Someone said that in other videos, they don’t talk about that. So I don’t know about that.

The reason that was given for this raid is that there were two reported cases of an E. coli pathogen, in December, which occurred in minors according to the agriculture department. This is from WHTM.

This is one of the reports. You can find others like this online. This is a local Pennsylvania Harrisburg station. And it says there were:

“There were two reported cases of the foodborne pathogen “STEC – Shiga toxin producing E.Coli” in December in minors, according to the Agriculture Department.

Ground beef and “raw” eggnog from Miller’s farm was tested after one of the underage people in New York consumed it, and both products were positive for STEC. In Michigan, there was another report from a minor who tested positive for STEC and that they had raw milk, and other milk, eggs, cheese and meat products that were from Miller’s Farm, the Agriculture Department says.”

So that is the reason they gave for this raid happening, which kinda kicked off this whole big, attention in this long running case, I should say, because this has been going on for at least a decade. And I’ll come back to that to that in a minute.

So I’m hearing different things on this. Some people say “only two people got sick.” “No one got sick from any of Miller’s food or milk.” “I haven’t seen any proof that anybody got sick.” So I’m pretty surprised when people are shocked in saying that no one’s ever gotten sick from his products.

Maybe no one has, but there is evidence there that his products have tested positive for these things and connected to people that did get sick. So that was the justification for the raid. So the idea that it’s “new news” or it’s impossible to have happened – I’m surprised that I heard some things like, “I’ve never heard of this before” – when it’s actually tested which products had tested positive for e coli.

The Listeria Case of 2014-15

I think part of the confusion too is, and I need to clean one thing up, there was the earlier case, from 2014 – 2015, where there was a listeria outbreak, and a couple people were sickened from that.

One woman did die and later was found to have listeria in her system, which was, as I said in the first thing, alleged, to have been linked to Miller’s farm. This is what I said about it in a previous video:

“In that year, the government alleged that a listeria illness, which sickened two people and killed one person, had its source in milk, which came from Amos Miller’s farm. Miller said in turn that the person actually had a preexisting condition, and that his milk was not even proven to have caused the illness.”

So again, Miller has disputed that side of things, and there’s a whole backstory to that. I’ve got a link to this other video, and you’re gonna find more details on that part of it online.

So I kinda rushed through the recap there. I put the two cases into one, the eggnog and the listeria. So “mea culpa” on that bit. Whether or not that person actually died from listeria, that’s another question. I believe she had cancer. Like I said, it was an alleged death, and Miller’s side has strenuously objected to that.

The point of that video was to try to get to the latest news that Miller is allowed to sell his milk in 49 states. This lawsuit is more about getting Miller to comply with government regulations, getting a permit, and so forth.

But in summary, has anyone gotten sick from Miller’s products?

The government alleges that they have. Miller and his supporters, the buyer’s club, they say that “no” – or, maybe if there have been illnesses, “it’s our responsibility”. “Let us worry about that. Okay? We’re a buyer’s club.”

“We should have the right to be able to drink what we want.” And that’s kind of the kind of the gist of this case. The food safety arguments on the side of the government in the “food freedom” arguments on the side of Miller and his customers and supporters.

“Agnostic” on Raw Milk

So my comments on being “agnostic” on this issue, some people didn’t like that.

I think I was called “a fence-sitter”. Now, I’m not really sure if they kinda got the point. But what I meant was when it comes to drinking raw milk, I don’t have a problem with it.

I drink it all the time when I’m with my Amish farm friends, without a second thought. And I don’t care if you wanna drink it either.

The other side of that is I don’t particularly ever seek raw milk out in my personal life outside of that context. It’s just not an issue that moves me, or stirs me, maybe in some ways that that it may stir some of you. And, you know, I respect that.

It’s just I don’t have to have a strong opinion on something that I don’t care to the same degree, about personally as maybe other people do.

Now I think it’s a very important issue to sort out. Don’t get me wrong on that. It’s just that I’m not either a big fan of raw milk or I’m not “anti” raw milk. It’s just not – it doesn’t move the needle for me,  like for other people. But I don’t have a problem with it, and I drink it all the time when it’s available to me. And I don’t have a problem with you if you wanna drink it either.

Colostrum: What it is and My comments on it

Finally, guys, colostrum. Now some people didn’t like my kind of throwaway comments, half-joke on colostrum. What did I say? Let’s have a quick look back [at the prior video].

And a product called colostrum, which, is, something that’s produced by the cow after giving birth. I won’t go too far into that, detail wise.

So what is colostrum? You may be wondering.

Colostrum – and this is from the MD Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas website. They’ve got a dietitian, Lindsay Wolford, who described what it was. She says that:

“Colostrum is a nutrient-dense fluid that is released from the breast of mammals after they give birth for the purpose of providing nourishment and certain nutrients to their young,” Wohlford says.

All female mammals, including humans, produce colostrum in the days after giving birth. Wohlford says colostrum provides newborns with nutrients that help strengthen their delicate immune system. These include:

• protein
• essential fatty acids
• antioxidants
• antibodies

Then it goes on to take answer the question, “can adult humans benefit from taking bovine colostrum supplements?” It says:

Initial studies do show some promise with colostrum in certain areas such as immune function and gut health, Wohlford says.

However, research into colostrum supplements in humans is still in the early stages. For this reason, Wohlford notes it is too soon to say for sure whether bovine colostrum supplements can benefit humans.

“Further studies are needed, and more robust data collected, before a clear recommendation can be made on usage,” she says.

Until this happens, Wohlford doesn’t recommend taking colostrum supplements.

Okay. I’m leaving all that aside. You guys can talk about if it’s something you wanna take or not.

That’s fine with me. I don’t care. It doesn’t matter to me if you wanna take it or not. That’s kind of the point here.

My comment was more about “well, when I hear the description of colostrum and hear the name of it, it just sounds unappealing to me.”

It doesn’t sound like something I want to consume personally. You know, it just sound it just sounds kinda gross. That’s just my personal reaction.

I’m not criticizing you if you want to consume it. There’s obviously, as we just read from that dietitian, some suggestion that it could be beneficial. Although, she also says that more studies are needed.

Now, would I ever try colostrum?

I’ve eaten some things that I thought were really gross. And let me guarantee you, you would think are really gross too. Some certain “true” foreign cuisines. Let’s just leave it at that.

I’m open minded. I could try something new. Sometimes I’m surprised. But, a lot of strange things I’ve eaten in the past, it was just to try it once.

I imagine colostrum would be the same, but, you know, I would probably try it. Maybe I need to give it a shot. Although, it is a little weird to me that it’s something meant for newborn baby calves. You know, we’re not newborn baby – but okay.

I guess you could say the same thing about milk. Milk is produced for calves, not humans. So there’s that. In the meantime, I think I’m gonna stick to the milk. You guys can do the colostrum.

If I get a chance to try it, I very well might. So maybe that’s more colostrum talk than you wanted in this video. I’m sure a lot of you could tell me more about it. So I’ll be back to give you updates on this as the case proceeds. You can check out, again, the the longer previous video, more recap worthy video that I did on this case.

I’ll link that in the description. And as always, curious to hear what you think. Let me know. Talk to you soon.

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