The Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) have moved raw milk into the crosshairs of provincial politics by forcing the issue onto the political agenda through formal resolutions. Local leaders want Canada’s federal food safety regulations rewritten so that unpasteurized dairy can be sold directly from farms under controlled conditions. Their campaign challenges longstanding public health rules that ban raw milk sales for human consumption across Canada.

Under current Dairy Industry Regulations and federal Food and Drug law, producers may only sell raw milk to licensed processors, with strict penalties for violations including licence suspension. Alberta’s agriculture officials currently enforce these rules and can involve additional authorities when raw products enter commercial streams or cause illness outbreaks.

Rural councils argue that small-scale dairy producers are stuck under a heavy federal framework that favours industrial supply chains and shuts out local, farm-to-consumer markets. Their proposals call for frameworks similar to some U.S. jurisdictions where raw milk sales are allowed through regulated systems requiring testing, labelling, refrigeration and traceability. The municipalities say such changes would support economic diversification in rural areas and let producers respond to consumer demand for minimally processed food.

Public health authorities counter that the prohibition reflects decades of evidence showing serious risks from unpasteurized milk, which can carry pathogens that cause severe foodborne illnesses. These concerns are central to Canada’s federal policy and are why pasteurization became mandatory in the early 1990s.

The debate has broader implications for how agriculture and food safety are balanced in Canada. It touches on federal versus provincial jurisdiction, rural economic development and risk tolerance in food policy. With rural councils now pressing the issue, Alberta’s political class and Ottawa will have to decide whether to adjust rules rooted in public health or uphold the status quo that restricts the direct sale of raw dairy.