Minnesota Raw Milk Laws & Regulations

Minnesota permits on-farm raw milk sales under a farm-direct exemption within Minn. Stat. §32D.19 (Minnesota Dairy Modernization Act), administered by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA). Farms that meet specified criteria relating to scale and direct consumer sales may sell raw milk from the farm without a full Grade A commercial dairy processing license. Herd health requirements, including tuberculosis and brucellosis testing, and basic sanitation standards apply. Minnesota does not have a licensed herdshare statute, though informal ownership-based arrangements exist in practice. Off-farm delivery and retail store sales are not authorized under the farm-direct exemption framework.

Minnesota's raw milk market is concentrated in the dairy-rich regions of the west-central and southeast parts of the state, with the Twin Cities metropolitan area generating significant consumer demand for farm-direct access. Minnesota's strong Hmong and other immigrant communities in the Twin Cities have historically maintained cultural practices around fresh and unprocessed dairy from family arrangements. The state has not seen significant legislative movement toward retail store legalization in recent sessions. During the 2025 H5N1 avian flu outbreak in Minnesota dairy herds, the MDA worked with producers to address the outbreak while raw milk operations continued under existing frameworks.