Pro Athletes Who Drink Raw Milk: Haaland, McCoy, and Others

Raw milk has found a following among professional athletes, from the football pitch to the batter’s box to the octagon. Manchester City striker Erling Haaland, former NFL quarterback Colt McCoy, UFC fighters Marlon “Chito” Vera and Bryce Mitchell, and Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper have each spoken publicly, or been reported on, for their raw milk habits. Their reasons and their sources differ: Haaland and Vera have each named exactly where their milk comes from, while McCoy, Mitchell, and Harper have kept theirs private or simply never said.

Erling Haaland

Norway and Manchester City striker Erling Haaland gets his raw milk from Greenoaks Farm, a micro-dairy in Mobberley, Cheshire. Greenoaks is one of the farms selling raw milk legally under England’s farm-direct raw milk rules, which permit registered farms to sell farm gate, via vending machine, or online, but not through retail shops. In October 2025, Haaland visited the farm while filming a day-in-the-life video for his YouTube channel, picking up raw milk, beef, and honey on his way to training. He described milk to the farm’s owner, Helen Southworth, as a “superfood,” crediting it with benefits for digestion, skin, bones, and muscle recovery, according to Farmers Guardian. He told Southworth he would like to return for an evening milking.

Haaland’s public association with milk predates that video. In 2023, after a record-scoring first season at Manchester City, he posted photos of himself with bottles of milk captioned “Me and my magic potion,” a moment picked up widely across football media at the time. That earlier milk was not specifically described as raw; the raw milk detail, and the Greenoaks connection, came later with the 2025 video. Interest in his raw milk habit has continued into the 2026 World Cup, and Greenoaks has reported a sharp jump in demand for its milk since the visit.

Colt McCoy

Former NFL quarterback Colt McCoy has a longer, and more private, relationship with raw milk. He grew up on his family’s farm in Tuscola, Texas, where he milked the cows himself as a kid, a chore that later fell to his grandfather once he was away playing football. The habit became public in March 2019, when his head coach at Washington, Jay Gruden, told reporters McCoy drank a gallon of unpasteurized milk a day for strong bones. McCoy pushed back on the specifics the next day, telling Commanders.com, “It’s just milk, bro,” and clarifying that he actually goes through a gallon over five or six days rather than one.

McCoy has not named a current commercial source. He told Commanders.com that raw milk is hard to find in Virginia and that regulations kept him from disclosing where he gets it, a reflection of Virginia’s raw milk law, which permits raw milk only through licensed herdshare agreements, not direct retail or farm sales. He also said pasteurized milk tastes watered down to him and unsettles his stomach in a way raw milk doesn’t. His raw milk supply as a child came directly from the family farm rather than a retail arrangement, and it appears to still be private today. That pattern, families on dairy farms drinking straight from their own bulk tank before the rest goes off for pasteurization, is common among dairy farming households, not unique to McCoy’s.

Marlon “Chito” Vera

UFC bantamweight contender Marlon “Chito” Vera, of Ecuador, gets his raw milk from Raw Farm, a California dairy brand. California is one of the few states where raw milk is sold in ordinary grocery and health food stores under state Grade A raw milk law, and Raw Farm is the state’s largest licensed producer. In an interview clip, Vera said he avoids plant-based milk substitutes and drinks raw milk exclusively, naming Raw Farm as the brand his household uses for milk, cheese, and kefir alike, adding that his own kids eat cereal with the same milk. Unlike Haaland’s direct farm visit, Vera’s connection to Raw Farm is a stated retail preference rather than a documented farm trip.

Bryce Mitchell

UFC bantamweight Bryce Mitchell credited raw milk for his performance after submitting Santiago Luna at UFC Vegas 118 in June 2026, telling reporters backstage, “I think it was mostly raw milk.” He did not name a specific farm or brand. Mitchell is an Arkansas native, and the state significantly expanded raw milk access in 2025 through Senate Bill 464, authorizing sales at farmers markets, natural food stores, and via direct delivery. More on Mitchell’s post-fight comments.

Bryce Harper

Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper became an unlikely raw milk figure in January 2025, when he used it in a viral TikTok video making an iced vanilla latte, part of a series of cooking and coffee videos fans nicknamed “BryceTok.” He has not named a specific farm or brand. In February 2025, Harper missed a spring training workout with food poisoning, and several outlets and fans speculated online that the raw milk was to blame. The team did not confirm a cause, and no direct link between the illness and the milk has been established.