Raw milk is legal in Texas, but only if you buy it directly from a producer who holds a Grade A Raw for Retail Permit issued by the Texas Department of State Health Services. You can either drive to the farm or arrange a delivery. You cannot buy it off a grocery store shelf, you cannot grab it off a farmers’ market table, and it cannot legally cross a state line.
How You Can Legally Buy Raw Milk in Texas
Texas rules give you two paths to a legal purchase. The simpler one is to drive out to the dairy. The producer has to hold a current Grade A Raw for Retail Permit, and the sale takes place on the farm, between you and the farmer.1Legal Information Institute. Texas Administrative Code 25 TAC 217.31 – Selling of Raw Milk to the Consumer
The second path is delivery. A permitted producer or one of their employees can bring the milk to a location the two of you agree on ahead of time. The milk has to travel in refrigerated sanitary equipment and stay at or below 45°F the whole way. Each delivery must include a temperature-control sample so the temperature can be verified when you receive it. If ice is used to keep things cold, the milk cannot be fully submerged in it.1Legal Information Institute. Texas Administrative Code 25 TAC 217.31 – Selling of Raw Milk to the Consumer
The Farmers’ Market Rule
You cannot buy raw milk at a farmers’ market as a walk-up purchase. Texas Health and Safety Code Section 437.020(e) prohibits raw milk sales and even free samples at farmers’ markets. There is one narrow use of the market space that stays legal: a farmers’ market booth can act as the agreed-upon delivery point for milk you already pre-ordered from the producer. The farmer cannot sell it to you on the spot, but they can hand you what you already bought.2Texas DSHS. Texas Farmer’s Market
Local Ordinances Can Add Restrictions
Deliveries also cannot violate any local ordinance. Some Texas cities and counties layer their own restrictions on raw milk distribution, so an arrangement that works in one part of the state may not be legal in another. If you live in an urban area and want a regular delivery, check with your local health department first.
What You Cannot Do
You cannot buy raw milk in a Texas grocery store, and you cannot legally bring it in from another state to sell or distribute. Federal law prohibits shipping or transporting raw milk across state lines for human consumption. The FDA regulation at 21 CFR 1240.61 bars delivering any milk in final package form into interstate commerce unless it has been pasteurized.3eCFR. 21 CFR 1240.61 – Mandatory Pasteurization for All Milk and Milk Products in Final Package Form Intended for Direct Human Consumption
That means a Texas producer cannot legally sell or ship raw milk to a buyer in Oklahoma, Louisiana, or any other state. A producer who violates the interstate ban faces federal enforcement under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.4GovInfo. United States Code Title 21 – Food and Drugs, Chapter 9, Subchapter III
The FDA has said it does not intend to take enforcement action against an individual who personally buys raw milk in Texas and carries it home across a state border for their own consumption. “No intention to enforce” is not the same as “legal,” and that leniency disappears the moment someone starts buying for a group or reselling.
How to Tell a Legitimate Producer
Because raw milk is regulated at the source rather than at retail, the responsibility for verifying you are buying from a legal producer falls partly on you. Two things are worth checking.
Ask About the Permit
Only a producer with a current Grade A Raw for Retail Permit from DSHS can legally sell raw milk in Texas. Before a permit is even issued, the farm has to pass a pre-issuance inspection, and permits are renewed on a two-year cycle. A producer who cannot point to a permit number is not operating legally.5Cornell Law School. Texas Administrative Code 25 TAC 217.91 – Milk Facilities and Operations Permit and Frozen Dessert License Procedures
Check the Label
Every bottle of legally sold raw milk in Texas has to be labeled immediately after bottling. The label must include a product name containing the words “Grade A Raw,” a batch number matching the bottling date, and the producer’s name, address, zip code, phone number, and permit number.6Legal Information Institute. Texas Administrative Code 25 TAC 217.24 – Labeling
A health warning must also appear on the main display panel, using this required text: “This product contains unpasteurized milk. Consuming raw foods, including raw dairy products, may increase your risk of foodborne illness. Persons at higher risk for foodborne illness include pregnant and nursing women, children, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems.”6Legal Information Institute. Texas Administrative Code 25 TAC 217.24 – Labeling
All label content has to be approved by the DSHS Milk and Dairy Unit before any product is sold. If a container of raw milk you are handed does not carry this labeling, treat it as a signal that the producer may not be properly permitted.
The Testing Behind the Label
DSHS samples milk from each permitted farm quarterly, testing for cooling temperature, antibiotics, somatic cell counts, bacterial counts, coliform counts, pathogenic bacteria, water adulteration, and random aflatoxin screening. If antibiotics or pathogens show up, the product is immediately detained and pulled from sale.7Cornell Law School. Texas Administrative Code 25 TAC 217.26 – Examination of Grade A Raw Milk The state’s rules require complete absence of Salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli O157:H7 in Grade A raw milk.8Cornell Law School. Texas Administrative Code 25 TAC 217.27 – Standards for Grade A Raw Milk and Raw Milk Products
Why the Warning Label Is There
The warning on the bottle is not just paperwork. According to CDC data, unpasteurized milk and cheese account for roughly 96% of illnesses caused by contaminated dairy products, even though only about 3% to 5% of the population consumes them.9CDC. Outbreak-Related Disease Burden Associated with Consumption of Unpasteurized Cow’s Milk and Cheese, United States, 2009-2014
The pathogens most often tied to raw milk outbreaks are Salmonella, Campylobacter, E. coli, and Listeria. Healthy adults who catch these infections usually recover, but the risk runs higher for pregnant women, young children, elderly people, and anyone with a compromised immune system. Texas’s zero-tolerance testing standard for pathogens exists because a single contaminated batch can start an outbreak.
A Bill That Could Change Where You Buy It
As of early 2025, Texas House Bill 1669 proposes to expand raw milk sales beyond the current on-farm and delivery-only model. If passed, the bill would let permitted producers sell raw milk directly at off-farm locations such as farmers’ markets, and it would let consumers designate agents to coordinate group purchases on their behalf. It would also write the right to sell raw milk directly to consumers into state statute, rather than leaving it in administrative regulations that DSHS can adjust on its own.
The bill had not been enacted at the time of writing. Until it passes, the existing rules govern every legal purchase: buy on the farm, or arrange a delivery, from a producer whose permit and label check out.