Farmers, got (raw) milk?

With that trend has come a growing interest in “raw’’ milk, or milk from the udder to the glass, so to speak, with no pasteurization process in between.

Two of the state’s 27 raw-milk farms are located in this area, according to the state Department of Agricultural Resources: Anderson Bros. Dairy in West Bridgewater and Oake Knoll Ayrshires in Foxborough. And now Bridgewater farmer Dave Hanson is looking to join the pair.

The Hanson family has owned a farm and dairy operation in Bridgewater since 1937, and Hanson’s parents sold milk wholesale for decades. But the family hasn’t done so for the past 12 years, relying instead on their vegetable production, currently growing about 60 acres of various crops.

Dave Hanson has a herd of nine Swiss brown cows, which he plans to expand by new births. The herd is “closed,’’ he said, which means new cows haven’t been introduced. Because of that, Hanson said they need very few antibiotics. The cows go out to pasture, and Hanson supplements their diet with a commercial grain mix.

“I’m doing this to make the farm a place where people can get what they need locally,’’ Hanson said of his decision to go into the raw-milk business. “But I know it’s going to take some time to get a license and pass all the inspections.’’

The Bridgewater health board says it needs a better understanding of the product before making a decision on a permit for Hanson. “We aren’t familiar with raw milk and what it will require,’’ said Bridgewater health board chairwoman Sandra Wright. Board members planned to tour other operations. “We’ll have to do a lot of research to see what it entails.’’

In the 1920s, pasteurization was viewed as a powerful weapon in an arsenal to fight needless deaths from milk-borne bacteria caused by poor conditions in dairy operations.

And even today, the debate over raw milk continues, with arguments from both sides over the consumption of a product that hasn’t been treated.

For the dairy farmer, the premium price that can be fetched for a gallon of raw milk - between $6 and $10, compared with about $1.30 per gallon wholesale - can be the difference between going under or remaining sustainable.

Raw milk can’t be purchased just anywhere. Nationwide, only 28 states allow raw milk to be sold. And some of those states restrict consumption of raw milk to animals only. One state recently considered legislation to dye the milk charcoal gray so people wouldn’t be tempted to drink it. Others limit where raw milk can be sold.

Maine and Connecticut allow it on the shelves of retail stores. New Hampshire lets dairy farmers deliver the product to their customers. But in Massachusetts, raw milk can be sold only at the farm where it is produced. And state farming officials leave the decision to local health officials on whether to allow such sales from the farm.

The Department of Agricultural Resources, the agency that licenses and inspects the state’s dairy farms, says the operations of the 27 raw-milk dairies in Massachusetts are carefully monitored, with monthly inspections by state agricultural authorities.

“We see raw milk as a viable economic opportunity for dairy farms, and there is a demand in the marketplace,’’ said Michael Cahill, a spokesman for the department. “What we want to do is work with the farmers so it’s a safe product.’’

Cahill said batches of raw milk are sampled monthly, and if they fail to meet state requirements, the business can be shut down. “It happens two or three times a year,’’ Cahill said.

Proponents say there hasn’t been a documented sickness attributable to the consumption of raw milk in Massachusetts for more than a decade.

“Non-pasteurized milk is not as safe as pasteurized milk,’’ said Cahill. “You can’t buy it in the store, so you go to the farm, see where it’s produced, and you should feel comfortable that it’s being done in a sanitary environment.’’

Consumers have to reach their own comfort level when it comes to raw milk, and it isn’t easy since the product has some heavy hitters on both sides, with long lists of reasons supporting their respective arguments.

Organizations such as the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Massachusetts tout raw milk’s health benefits, saying it offers more vitamins, enzymes, and good bacteria than the pasteurized version, and it can even bolster the immune system to ward off a host of allergies.

But regulators at the US Food and Drug Administration say drinking raw milk is like “playing Russian roulette’’ with your health - it can make you sick from pathogens such as E.coli, listeria, Staphylococcus aureus, and salmonella.

The pasteurization process calls for heating milk to 161 degrees for 15 seconds. The process rids raw milk of harmful bacteria, but raw-milk drinkers argue the process also kills beneficial bacteria and destroys enzymes.

Terri Lawton, who runs her family’s raw-milk business, Oake Knoll Ayrshires, from a centuries-old family farm in Foxborough, was formerly a dairy inspector for the Department of Agricultural Resources. She says she went into the raw-milk business in 2006 and now has 20 pasture-fed Ayrshire and Holstein cows, taking orders from customers interested in purchasing the milk, which she sells from the barn. Lawton says she sells about 10 gallons a day, at $5 per half-gallon jug.

“The real important issue isn’t that selling raw milk can provide a sustainable farm operation,’’ she said. “The issue to me is the freedom for the public to choose what they eat. It takes a huge commitment to drive an hour or two to get raw milk every week, but I have people who do just that.’’

Lawton argues products like cigarettes, known to cause health problems, are sold without the kind of regulation imposed on raw milk. “Raw milk isn’t inherently dangerous,’’ she said.

According to Lawton, her product has to meet stiff standards. “Our milk has to be clean or cleaner than pasteurized milk,’’ she said. “We are very detailed-oriented here. We work very hard to make sure what gets into the bottle is what was in the cow’s udder: nothing more, nothing less.’’

Winton Pitcoff, executive director of the Northeast Organic Farmers Association, said raw-milk operations in Massachusetts have as few as two cows and as many as 200. Most herds are in the 15 to 40 range, he said.

“It’s popular because it’s a very healthy food,’’ Pitcoff said. “It’s incredibly fresh and tastes far better than processed milk. People also appreciate the connection with the farmer, and the smaller carbon footprint of the product, since they are buying it at the source.’’

According to the Food and Drug Administration, many of the claimed benefits of raw milk and drawbacks of pasteurized milk are myths. On its website, the FDA states pasteurization kills harmful bacteria, “saves lives,’’ and “does not reduce milk’s nutritional value.’’ The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also warns against raw-milk consumption.

For more information on raw milk, visit the Northeast Organic Farming Association’s website at www.nofamass.org. For the other side, check out the FDA website at www.fda.gov.

Christine Legere can be reached at christinelegere@yahoo.com.