State investigating raw milk contracts

According to the Associated Press, the Ohio Department of Agriculture is investigating “herd share” agreements on dairy farms in their state, which an agriculture official says appear to take advantage of a legal loophole.
In a “herd share,” a “shareholder” owns part of a herd of cows. In return for his partial ownership, he gets to have raw, unpasteurized milk from the cows.
In Ohio, it is illegal to sell raw milk. The “herd share” basically is a loophole in that law.
Unpasteurized milk can cause a variety of bacterial infections, most commonly E.coli and salmonella. Outbreaks from raw milk have happened in several states over the years, which is why raw milk sales are banned in almost 30 states.