Raw milk labeled for pet consumption is sold by Maryland farms registered under COMAR 15.18.09.13. No licensed human consumption pathway exists; a 2025 bill (HB 1449) to establish one did not advance out of committee.
Maryland prohibits raw milk for human consumption under COMAR 10.15.02 (Milk and Milk Products), administered by the Maryland Department of Health, which requires pasteurization for all commercially distributed milk. No farm-direct permit, herdshare statute, or retail authorization for human consumption has been established. A 2025 Maryland House bill (HB 1449) sought to establish a licensed direct-to-consumer raw milk pathway for human consumption, but did not advance beyond a committee hearing in the 2025 regular session.
Maryland does permit registered producers to sell raw milk labeled for pet consumption under COMAR 15.18.09.13 (Pet Food and Specialty Pet Food), administered by the Maryland Department of Agriculture. Raw milk sold under the pet food framework may not be packaged in containers resembling those for human milk, and may not be stored at retail near human milk products. Producers must be registered with the Maryland Department of Agriculture. This arrangement is similar to the "pet milk" framework in Florida, where raw milk labeled for animal use is legally sold at farm locations and purchased by consumers who choose to consume it themselves. Consumer access in Maryland is limited to farm-level pet milk sales, with no retail store or delivery pathway.
Official government documents and legal resources for Maryland
Maryland pet food regulation governing raw milk sold for animal consumption, setting container and storage requirements and producer registration requirements under the Maryland Department of Agriculture.
View Official Resource →Maryland regulation requiring pasteurization for milk sold for human consumption, under which raw milk farm-direct, retail, and herdshare sales for human consumption are prohibited.
View Official Resource →Search for raw milk sources near popular locations in Maryland
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Unlike most milk components, oligosaccharides show up consistently unaffected by standard pasteurization across more than a decade of independent research.
A controlled comparative study found furosine, the marker for heat-induced protein damage, rises far less under pasteurization than under UHT or sterilization.
Kurt Oster proposed that homogenized milk delivers an absorbable enzyme that damages arteries, but three independent formal reviews found the evidence lacking.
Heat shifts milk calcium from soluble to colloidal form, but radioactive-tracing studies found no absorption difference between raw and pasteurized milk.
Studies on milk exosomes after pasteurization report conflicting results, some finding particle counts preserved, others substantial miRNA loss.
FAO and WHO formally reviewed this natural milk enzyme as a preservation method, and a 2024 Ethiopian field study measured its real-world bacterial reduction.
