That's because Victoria Consumer Affairs Minister Jane Garrett ordered a gag-inducing chemical to be poured into all raw milk sold in stores from Sunday, ensuring no one is able to drink it.

The move, announced over the summer break, has infuriated food activists, who are now planning a protest on Saturday to demand that the unpasteurised product be made available for drinking.

"The government's approach so far has been a very knee-jerk reaction," said organic food store owner Rebecca Freer, who is planning the "drink-in" outside the minister's Brunswick East office.

"I think they're in denial that there's a large subculture of raw milk drinkers, who are well-informed, educated people."

Raw milk is currently labelled as cosmetic "bath milk" in stores due to long-held bans on human consumption. But people have been drinking it anyway - a practice linked to the death of a Melbourne toddler, which prompted health warnings last month about harmful levels of bacteria.

But supporters of drinking unprocessed milk like Ms Freer dispute the product's link with the child's death and instead stress the supposed health benefits from consuming a natural product.

Nutritionist Arabella Forge, who will speak at Saturday's protest, said current food safety laws could be amended to get raw milk on store shelves without compromising food safety.

"What we're really asking for is a system of regulation that supports safe, raw milk," she said. "People should have access to this product."

Ms Forge drinks raw milk produced at her in-laws' dairy farm and does not support drinking cosmetic bath milk. "There are risks right now because it's unregulated."

But CSIRO research microbiologists Narelle Fegan and Edward Fox, who have studied raw milk safety on Victorian farms, have both warned against drinking raw milk, even from farms with the highest of standards.

"When the milk comes out of the animal it should be sterile, but then it's immediately contaminated by its environment," Dr Fegan said. "When things go wrong they can go wrong pretty badly with people getting seriously ill."

Dr Fox said there was no evidence that raw milk was more nutritious - a common claim made by raw milk supporters.

"Pasteurised milk is as nutritional as raw milk and it has, due to the pasteurisation process, a lower associated risk," he said.

Victoria's chief health officer, Dr Rosemary Lester, has also stood behind her recent raw milk health warnings.

Ms Garrett defended her decision to add a bittering agent to raw milk on Thursday, saying it's meant to prevent illness and death.

"The actions we have taken are designed to stop people from putting themselves and their children at risk," she said.

The protest, to be attended by raw milk drinkers, farmers, and their supporters, begins at 11am.

Twitter: @lillebuen