Finland Raw Milk Laws & Regulations

Finland allows raw milk (raakamaito) to be sold both at the farm and packaged in grocery stores. The Finnish Food Authority (Ruokavirasto) sets out three levels of activity, from small direct sales at the farm to approved dairy plants that can supply shops nationwide. Packaged raw milk is sold in K-group and S-group supermarkets, including K-Citymarket and Prisma stores.

Is raw milk legal in Finland?

Yes. Finland has not used the option in Article 10(8) of Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 to ban raw drinking milk. Instead, the amount and route of sale depend on how the seller is registered.

Three ways raw milk is sold

1. Direct from the dairy farm (primary production). A dairy farm may sell its own raw milk directly to consumers at the farm, up to 2,500 kg a year, after notifying the municipal food control authority. Milk goes into the customer's own container, or the farm can supply a container and fill it. At this level the milk cannot be sold off the farm or through REKO pickup groups.

2. A registered food premises on the farm. A farm that registers a separate food premises with the municipality can sell raw milk directly to consumers with no volume limit, packaged or into the customer's container. Each package may hold milk from one farm only. Herds supplying unpasteurized milk this way are covered by Salmonella control. The same premises can make dairy products from raw milk, such as cheese, butter and ice cream, labeled "valmistettu raakamaidosta" (made from raw milk), and sell them within its region.

3. An approved dairy establishment. A dairy premises approved by the municipal food control authority can sell raw milk directly to consumers or packaged to retail stores, with no volume limit and from more than one farm, although each package holds milk from a single farm. Packages carry an identification mark and the word "raakamaitoa". This is the route that puts raw milk on supermarket shelves.

At every level, section 10 of Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Decree 318/2021 on food hygiene requires the seller to tell the buyer in writing that the product is raw milk, that it may contain disease-causing microbes, that it should be consumed heat-treated, and its storage temperature and use-by date. A farm selling directly that does not ship milk to a dairy draws up its own sampling plan for somatic cells, plate count and antibiotic residues.

Raw milk in Finnish supermarkets

Koivulan Maito & Juusto, a farm dairy in Muhos near Oulu, packages raw milk for retail. Yle reported in February 2025 that the dairy had increased its raw milk packaging tenfold since the previous November, with dozens of stores asking to stock it. K-group stores sell tens of thousands of litres of raw milk a year, and S-group carries it in a number of stores.

Colostrum and raw milk products

Finland also allows the sale of colostrum (ternimaito), fresh or frozen, used for traditional dishes such as the baked colostrum pudding uunijuusto. Farms can sell up to 2,500 kg a year directly and can supply frozen colostrum to local shops.

Finding raw milk in Finland

Farms and stores selling raakamaito are listed at raw milk in Finland. Neighboring rules are covered on the Sweden and Norway pages.