Protecting families from contaminated food and water
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Protecting families from contaminated food and water
Posted in Food Safety,Our Blog,Raw Milk on April 28, 2026
Raw milk lattes and Cody Wyoming have recently hit the news when Hippy Cow Creamery was ordered to stop serving the beverage made from dairy products on their farm.
Cottage food and raw dairy laws are fairly relaxed in Wyoming. Their Cottage Food Law and Wyoming’s Food Freedom Act allow just about anything to be sold direct to consumer and even to retail outlets (with some specific labeling). This issue behind these raw milk lattes involves the fine print.
The Health Inspector says it’s not allowed. Hippy Cow Creamery and the main architect behind the Food Freedom Act says raw milk lattes do not violate existing regulations.
Why are local authorities concerned about raw milk lattes anyway? Why is raw milk so risky?
Here’s what we know so far about raw milk lattes at Hippy Cow Creamery.
The Hippy Cow Creamery recently added raw milk lattes to their farm store offerings. In addition to other local goods from area vendors, they sold dairy products like ice cream, cream cheese, sour cream, and raw milk from their dairy. All made from raw milk. Which is allowed under the state’s raw milk regulations.
That is, until April 23, 2026. The Hippy Cow Creamery announced on their social media accounts that they would no longer be serving these beverages.
“Attention! We are no longer allowed to serve our wonderful, healthy, raw milk lattes. Per the government of Wyoming. We are truly *free* here in the US, huh.”
Raw milk sales, directly to the consumer, are allowed in the state of Wyoming.
According to Get Raw Milk, a leading resource of raw milk legislation across the country, “On-farm raw milk sales are legal in Wyoming. Delivery of raw milk directly from farm to consumer is also legal, including at farmers’ markets.”
It is the details that prompted the raw milk lattes ban.
When the health inspector ordered Hippy Cow Creamery to stop serving the beverage, it wasn’t the raw milk that came into question. It was combining it with the coffee that raised the red flags.
When making a latte, cream or milk is first frothed using a steam frother. It is then added to espresso.
While the hot steam is intended to heat up the milk, the dairy product does not reach temperatures sufficient to kill potential germs. Milk treated in this manner often reaches around 130 °F to 150 °F. Placing the unpasteurized beverage well within the “danger zone.”
The temperature range between 40 °F and 140 °F is what food safety experts call the danger zone. It is the sweet spot where harmful germs rapidly grow and reproduce. Quickly doubling in size to infectious quantities.
Both Hippy Cow Creamer and Tyler Lindholm, the architect behind the Wyoming Food Freedom Act, says the State is wrong in their interpretation of the Act. The Act is merely an update that strengthened the states Cottage Food Law. Which Lindholm says, the state’s Cottage Food Law explicitly allows these types of beverages.
Potential workarounds suggested by the inspector involved pre-making drinks at the farm before bringing them to the store, or serving a shot of espresso and allowing the customer to purchase a small bottle of milk to pour them together themselves. The customer, not the employee, could do these things and it would be legal.
Let’s take a look at what the Wyoming Cottage Food Law actually says.
Prior to 2020, homemade food producers could only sell their goods directly to the consumer. Selling through retail outlets and other places like coffee shops was not allowed.
Sales must be in person at farmers’ markets, roadside stands, homes, or mail-order delivery.
Now, the Wyoming Cottage Food Law allows homemade food producers to sell in “nearly all venues.” Including retail. However, they are limited to a $250,000 annual sales cap.
The types of foods covered under the Wyoming Cottage Food Law has also expanded to include:
In fact, the law even expands to cooked meat products. As long as the food is made with inspected meats, a cottage food vendor could buy supermarket beef and cook cheeseburgers or tacos and sell them. Egg producers (with less than 3,000 hens) do not need inspection or egg grading to sell to consumers. Or even to retailers.
The only requirement is certain labeling. But only if the product is not directly sold to the consumer. Foods made under Wyoming Cottage Law sold in retail locations must include a disclaimer that says: “This food was made in a home kitchen and is not regulated or inspected and may contain allergens.”
According to Linholm, Hippy Cow is doubly protected in that it is both the seller and the producer.
It appears that the problem involves specific wording found in the Wyoming Food Freedom Act.
The current regulations of the Wyoming Food Freedom Act became effective July 1, 2023. The main part of contention involves selling “homemade beverages.”
According to the Act, “the seller of eggs, dairy products or a homemade food product consisting of non-potentially hazardous food may be the producer of the item, a designated agent of the producer or a third party vendor including a retail shop or grocery store as long as the sale is made in compliance with this act.
Also included in the Act, is a statement that allows “non-potentially hazardous foods, eggs and dairy products” be sold at “any location the producer and the informed end consumer agree to.”
Which, if the product is described as a “raw milk” latte, the consumer is assumed to be made aware.
Which seems like things fall in the favor of Hippy Cow Creamery.
However, requirement (d) is where it appears the Inspector has pulled their proof.
“Homemade or uninspected food shall not be served or utilized as an ingredient in a commercial food establishment.”
But there is a catch. As it also says, “nothing in this section shall prohibit the sale of homemade food from a retail space located at the ranch, farm or home where the food is produced.”
It seems that, based on the state’s Cottage Food Law and their Food Freedom Act, there is some merit on both sides. The local authorities, the farm stand, and others get to decide the fate of Hippy Cow Creamery raw milk lattes.
But, what is the big deal about raw milk?
To understand why raw milk is risky, you must first consider where these germs come from.
Bacteria that can cause serious human illnesses are commonly found in the digestive system of healthy cows. The bathroom habits of cows, as you can imagine, are not as clean as those of most humans. There is no toilet paper. There is no designated space. Not to mention the fact that their udders are dangerously close to that area of the body.
It does not take much of these harmful germs to contaminate whole batches of milk.
That is why pasteurization has become mainstream in modern society.
Pasteurization is a heat treatment process that brings the milk to a high enough temperature to kill potential bacteria that have inadvertently made their way into the milk.
Raw milk does not undergo this heat treatment. Leaving it vulnerable to contamination and subsequent illnesses and outbreaks like those we have seen over the years.
There are several germs commonly associated with raw milk that can cause preventable illnesses and diseases.
Illnesses caused by raw milk pathogens may include:
Drinking raw milk can increase your risk of contracting these illnesses. While raw milk is legal in many states, most health authorities still discourage its consumption.
If you’d like to know more about food safety topics in the news, like “Hippy Cow Creamery Ordered to Stop Serving Raw Milk Lattes,” check out the Make Food Safe Blog. We regularly update trending topics, foodborne infections in the news, recalls, and more! Stay tuned for quality information to help keep your family safe, while The Lange Law Firm, PLLC strives to Make Food Safe!
By: Heather Van Tassell (contributing writer, non-lawyer)