"I’m sold out right now for the next two years."
Mateo Barbagelata brings a tumbler of raw cow’s milk to coffee shops, asking baristas to pour it into the lattes he orders.
A sticker on his laptop declares “RAW MILK IS NOT A CRIME.”
“Raw milk for us is a lifestyle,” said Barbagelata, 25. His family owns a Clearwater produce shop, Lakeview Farm Store, that sells unpasteurized dairy products.
Even as public health officials warn that a form of bird flu is rapidly spreading through dairy cattle in states like Michigan and Texas, Barbagelata is not dissuaded from drinking raw milk.
And neither, it seems, are many other Floridians.
The state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services earlier this year warned that raw milk could contain the live bird flu virus and that consumption may spread the pathogen further. But local businesses told the Tampa Bay Times that demand for raw milk remains high and has been growing for years.
Read more at the Tampa Bay Times