Raw Milk in Norway: Upasteurisert Kulturmelk, Rømme and the Law

Norway is often listed as a country where raw milk is off limits. For fresh drinking milk, that is largely true. For cultured raw milk, it is not. Unpasteurized kulturmelk (cultured milk), rømme (sour cream), butter and cheese are legal to sell in ordinary shops, and unpasteurized cultured milk from a Rogaland farm dairy is now stocked in supermarkets across the country.

This guide covers what Norwegian law allows, where to buy raw cultured milk and other raw dairy, and how to recognize it on the label.

Raw milk in Norway: key facts

Question	Answer
Can raw cultured milk be sold in Norwegian shops?	Yes. Cultured milk, rømme, butter and cheese made from raw milk can be sold through ordinary retail.
Can fresh raw drinking milk be sold in shops?	No. Milk and cream sold for consumption must be heat-treated.
Can a farm sell fresh raw milk at all?	Occasionally, direct to a household, from a farm or summer mountain farm (seter). Regular sales are not allowed.
Which regulation applies?	Section 21 of the animaliehygieneforskriften (FOR-2008-12-22-1624), Chapter VII.
What does the label say?	Upasteurisert, and Framstilt av rå mjølk or Framstilt av upasteurisert mjølk (made from raw or unpasteurized milk).
Where is it sold?	Jerseymeieriet’s unpasteurized kulturmjølk is carried by MENY and other chains; smaller farms sell raw rømme, butter and cultured milk from farm shops.

Is raw milk legal in Norway?

Sales of raw drinking milk have been restricted in Norway since 1953, according to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Norway is not an EU member, but it applies EU food hygiene law through the EEA Agreement, including Regulation (EC) No 853/2004. That regulation lets each country set its own rules for raw milk sold directly to consumers. Norway’s national rules are in Chapter VII of the animaliehygieneforskriften, the regulation on special hygiene rules for food of animal origin.

Section 21 has three sentences. The first reads: “All melk og fløte som omsettes til konsum, skal være varmebehandlet.” All milk and cream sold for consumption must be heat-treated. The second allows raw milk and raw cream to be sold from a farm or seter directly to a consumer for their own household. The third limits that exception to sales that are occasional and do not have the character of shop sales.

The rule names milk and cream. It says nothing about products made from raw milk. Cultured milk, rømme, butter and cheese fall outside Section 21 and are sold under Norway’s general food hygiene rules, the same rules that apply to other dairy products. Store norske leksikon summarizes the result: “Ost, syrnet melk, rømme og smør av rå melk er tillatt å omsette.” Cheese, cultured milk, sour cream and butter made from raw milk are permitted for sale.

Where to buy raw cultured milk in Norway

The most widely available raw dairy product in Norway is Upasteurisert Kulturmjølk from Jerseymeieriet, a farm dairy run by Sonja and Per Ådne Skårland at Herikstad Gård, south of Bryne in Rogaland. The farm has kept Jersey cows since 2001 and built its own dairy in 2021. The herd is around 85 milking Jerseys.

Jerseymeieriet’s product list describes the kulturmjølk as unpasteurized soured whole milk, 6% fat, round and mild in taste, for cooking or drinking. It comes in a 1 litre brown bottle that keeps four weeks at 0 to 4°C. It is the only unpasteurized product in the range: the dairy’s whole milk, cream, rømme, butter, kjernemjølk (buttermilk) and yogurt are low-pasteurized.

MENY lists the kulturmjølk for its online grocery service, and Jerseymeieriet products are carried in MENY, Coop Mega, Spar and independent food shops in Rogaland, Bergen, Sørlandet, Trøndelag and the Oslo area. Jerseymeieriet’s store locator lists the shops that carry its range. Not every shop stocks every product, so it is worth checking for the unpasteurized kulturmjølk specifically.

What “Matskatter” means

In MENY stores and online, Jerseymeieriet appears under Matskatter fra Rogaland (“food treasures from Rogaland”). Matskatter is MENY’s program for featuring local and regional producers. It is a retail program, and it is not what makes the product legal. Any Norwegian producer can sell unpasteurized cultured milk under the same rules, whether or not a supermarket features it.

Raw rømme and butter from Norwegian farms

Smaller farm dairies sell a wider range of unpasteurized products, mostly from their own farm shops. Gårdssysleriet, at Ytre Hægeland Gård in Øvrebø near Kristiansand, makes unpasteurized gårdsrømme, syrnet gårdsmelk (cultured farm milk, soured straight after milking), fresh cheese and butter. It sells through its farm shop, a local shop at Skarpengland and the REKO-ring in Kristiansand.

REKO-rings are local Facebook groups where customers pre-order from farms and collect at a set time and place. They operate across Norway and are a good place to look for raw milk dairy products from nearby farms.

Summer mountain farms are another source. Mattilsynet’s guidance for local dairy producers notes that many stølar sell or serve small amounts of their own rømme in summer, often made from raw milk. Producers register this with Mattilsynet.

Raw milk cheese in Norway

Raw milk cheese is the easiest raw dairy product to find in Norway. A 2002 amendment to the national milk regulations opened the way for raw milk cheese matured at least 60 days. According to Norsk Gardsost, the farm cheesemakers’ association, Voll Ysteri on Jæren received the first approval for unpasteurized cow’s milk cheese and Undredal Ysteri the first for goat’s milk cheese. By 2022, Norway had more than 400 cheeses from around 150 producers, according to Ren Mat, the magazine of Økologisk Norge. Norwegian and imported raw milk cheeses are sold in cheese shops, supermarkets and farm shops.

How to read a raw milk label in Norway

Mattilsynet requires products made from unpasteurized milk to say so. According to its local dairy guidance, the label must read “Framstilt av rå mjølk” or “Framstilt av upasteurisert mjølk” (Bokmål: Fremstilt av rå melk). Shops selling over the counter must tell the buyer the same, by a sign or verbally.

Product names usually carry the word upasteurisert as well, as on Jerseymeieriet’s bottle. A product without either marking should be assumed pasteurized. For reference, Mattilsynet describes pasteurization as 72°C for 15 seconds or 63°C for 30 minutes. Raw milk, under the EU definition Norway follows, is milk not heated above 40°C.

Can you buy fresh raw milk from a farm in Norway?

Fresh, uncultured raw milk can still be bought in Norway, within limits. Section 21 allows a farm or seter to sell raw milk or raw cream directly to a consumer for household use, as long as the sale is occasional and does not look like shop sales. Mattilsynet’s example is a tourist stopping by a seter to buy a pail of milk. Regular sales, even direct from the farm, are not covered.

Mattilsynet consulted on a proposal that would have allowed farms and summer farms to sell up to 5,000 litres of raw milk or cream a year. The Ministry of Health and Care Services announced in January 2021 that the rules would stay as they are, so Section 21 remains the rule.

Raw milk in Norway vs Sweden, Finland and Denmark

Country	Fresh raw milk	Where to buy
Norway	Occasional farm sales only	Raw cultured milk, rømme, butter and cheese in shops
Sweden	Farm gate, up to 70 litres a week	Registered farms
Finland	Legal in retail	Supermarkets including K-citymarket and Prisma
Denmark	Farm gate	Registered primary producers

Norwegian dairy vocabulary

• Rå melk / rå mjølk: raw milk
• Upasteurisert: unpasteurized
• Framstilt av rå mjølk: made from raw milk (label wording)
• Kulturmelk / kulturmjølk: cultured milk
• Syrnet melk: soured or fermented milk
• Kjernemelk / kjernemjølk: buttermilk
• Rømme: sour cream
• Smør: butter
• Varmebehandlet: heat-treated
• Gårdsutsalg: farm shop
• Seter / støl: summer mountain farm
• Mattilsynet: Norwegian Food Safety Authority

Finding raw dairy in Norway

Shops carrying Jerseymeieriet’s unpasteurized kulturmjølk, along with farm shops selling raw dairy, are listed at raw milk in Norway. The full legal summary is on the Norway raw milk laws page.

Search terms for finding more sources:

• Upasteurisert kulturmelk (unpasteurized cultured milk)
• Upasteurisert rømme or gårdsrømme (unpasteurized or farm sour cream)
• Gårdsutsalg meieri (farm dairy shop)
• REKO-ringen plus a town name

For other country guides, see raw milk in France, raw milk in Belgium and the raw milk laws map.