How one woman transformed milk consumption in the U.S. forever
In recent years, drinking unpasteurized, or raw, milk has surged in popularity, growing into a worldwide trend. TikTok influencers and notable figures such as RFK Jr., the current Secretary of Health and Human Services of the United States, have praised its supposed benefits, garnering attention online and fueling public debate (1). This trend marks a major shift away from a century of public health standards. Developed by Louis Pasteur in the late nineteenth century, pasteurization uses controlled heat to kill off harmful pathogens without significantly changing their nutritional value. That way, milk is safe to drink and can stay fresh for a longer time (2). However, for a long time, people did not pasteurize milk, until one particular discovery changed U.S. public health forever.
Alice Catherine Evans was born in 1881 on a farm in rural Pennsylvania. Her father, William Howell Evans, was a farmer, and her mother, Anne B. Evans, was a teacher. In her early years, Evans was taught at home by her parents and later attended a local one-room schoolhouse, where she excelled and received outstanding grades (3). Evans became a teacher, one of the few career paths for women at the time. After graduating, however, in her memoirs, she wrote about how she found the profession boring and monotonous (2).
After four years, she enrolled in a free two-year course for rural teachers at the College of Agriculture at Cornell University, which was meant to help educators inspire students’ admiration for the sciences. Seizing this opportunity, Evans continued her studies at Cornell after receiving a scholarship. There, she earned her bachelor’s degree in bacteriology in 1909. Afterwards, Evans was awarded another scholarship from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she earned her master’s degree the following year. Despite the opportunity to pursue a Ph.D in Chemistry, Evans chose to accept a job in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, working in the Bureau of Animal Industry’s Dairy Division, a federal agency dedicated to researching dairy products, cattle breeding, nutrition, and market practices (4).
As late as 1938, milkborne diseases accounted for up to 25% of all foodborne illnesses in the U.S. In addition, contaminated milk was a leading cause of the exceptionally high infant mortality rates, as children’s immune systems were often too fragile to handle the bacteria in raw milk (5). Decades before Evans’ discovery, Danish veterinarian Benhard Bang had identified that a bacterium called Bacillus abortus was responsible for miscarriages in cows. Meanwhile, Scottish pathologist David Bruce had also identified a natural cause, known today as Micrococcus miltensis, which caused brucellosis—a disease that results in undulant fever, heavy sweating, and muscle pain. No one had thought of linking these ailments together—that is, until Alice Evans (3).
At her new position, Evans was tasked with studying the microbes present in raw milk, and soon, she became interested in brucellosis and its relationship to fresh milk. She discovered that B. abortus was constantly present in raw milk and noted that it was almost identical to M. melitensis (4). She also found that the microbe thrived in both infected cows and seemingly healthy animals, meaning that although milk could look normal, it could still spread disease. To test her theory, Evans simultaneously infected pregnant lab animals with B. abortus and observed that subjects suffered unexpected abortions. In 1917, she published a paper warning that raw milk could cause disease in humans (2).
However, Evans faced immediate skepticism and severe criticism from scientists, veterinarians, and representatives from the milk industry, who dismissed the idea that she could have made such a discovery as a female researcher (6). Despite years-long efforts to discredit her, Evans persisted in her work, and, in the late 1920s, male researchers confirmed her findings. By the 1930s, milk pasteurization became mandatory in the United States, and as a result, milk-borne disease outbreaks dropped from 25% of all foodborne diseases to less than 1%. Around the same time, Evans became the first female president of the American Society of Microbiology in 1928 and was awarded several honorary doctorates (4). After retiring, she gave lectures to women about pursuing scientific careers and was a popular speaker within female groups.
Sadly, on September 5, 1975, Evans had a stroke and died at the age of 94. Later, in 1993, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame (2). To this day, her story and contribution to microbiology and public health continue to inspire those who follow in her footsteps.
The current resurgence of raw milk is a striking reminder of how quickly society can forget the lessons of the past. While the raw milk trend is marketed as a return to tradition, it is far from the truth that Alice Catherine Evans discovered. Her persistence and determination in a society that did not support her created the blueprint for modern food safety that continues to protect us every day—only if we listen to the warnings her work gave us.
Bibliography
- Aggeler, Madeleine. “The Truth about Raw Milk and Why Experts Are “Absolutely Horrified” by the Trend.” The Guardian, The Guardian, 26 Nov. 2024, www.theguardian.com/wellness/2024/nov/26/what-is-unpasteurized-raw-milk. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.
- “Alice Catherine Evans.” Wikipedia.org, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 13 June 2007, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Catherine_Evans. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.
- Colwell, R R. “Alice C. Evans: Breaking Barriers.” The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, vol. 72, no. 5, 2026, p. 349, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2579030/?page=3. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.
- Hunt, Geoff. “Alice Evans, a Pioneer for Women in Microbiology.” ASM.org, American Society for Microbiology, 30 Mar. 2023, asm.org/articles/2023/march/alice-evans,-a-pioneer-for-women-in-microbiology. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.
- CURRIER, R. W., & WIDNESS, J. A. (2018). A Brief History of Milk Hygiene and Its Impact on Infant Mortality from 1875 to 1925 and Implications for Today: A Review. Journal of Food Protection, 81(10), 1713–1722. https://doi.org/10.4315/0362-028x.jfp-18-186
- Foss, Cindy. “Alice Evans.” Uwalumni.com, 2018, onwisconsin.uwalumni.com/alice-evans/. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.
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