Making milk last longer?

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Sorry. Not in the US. The date on a milk carton is the "sell by" date. It's an indication for the grocer to pull it from the shelf. Milk should (but is not guaranteed to) last beyond this date if it's been stored properly and unopened.

Can You Drink Milk Past Its Sell-by Date?
Surely if the date is the "sell by date" it would say so. It wouldn't call it the "expiry date". The "Expiry date" means (or should mean) the "Use by date". Otherwise the customer is being misled.

Don't American grocery products have both the "sell by" date for the seller's information AND a "use by"/"sell by"/"expiry" date for the customer's benefit? If not your FDA should be getting its act together and protecting its employers (ie the citizens who pay them) not pandering to the suppliers.

And the link you quote implies that there IS a difference between "Sell by" and "expiry" dates.
 
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So where is this magic formula that shows when a food is set to "expire"? No such thing exists. The FDA, grocers, food producers, farmers, etc, do not know what date their particular foods are going to go from good to bad. That simply does not exist. The sell by/ best used by date is a guide. A best guess as to when the food can reasonably be expected to still be at its best.
 
Surely if the date is the "sell by date" it would say so. It wouldn't call it the "expiry date". The "Expiry date" means (or should mean) the "Use by date". Otherwise the customer is being misled.
Whether called "sell by" or "expiration," it indicates the date the grocer has to pull it from the shelf. It's a guideline. How does one know if it's spoiled without opening the carton? Spoilage doesn't look at a watch or follow a calendar. It could be perfectly good a month past the date. :rolleyes:

milk.jpg
 
For milk and cream, the dates are valid as long as the carton/bottle is never opened. You can keep unopened milk for well past the sell by date. Once opened, the contents are best consumed within a week.
 
Funny. Our carton of half and half expired 10/12/14 and still tastes fine in coffee, no curdling. We've had other brands that curdled the minute they hit their best by date.
 
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I've noticed that too, certain brands seem to go sour faster than others. No doubt the fat content has a lot to do with shelf life. I myself buy reduced fat milk. There's also 2% fat milk, non fat milk and regular milk.

Signs my milk is starting to turn...mixing in chocolate syrup and seeing little white specks.
 
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lol, that british way of writing the date always makes me have to think twice or do a truth table to figure it out.
 
There is also a difference between pasteurized and ultra pasteurized milk and dairy products. Ultra pasteurized is usually sold in the paper carton and is heated to a much higher temperature and gets a much longer date. Regular pasteurized often comes in plastic jugs and isn't heated as high, causing it to go bad faster.

I can have a carton of whole milk open for more than 2 weeks and it's still fine, same goes for my ultra pasteurized heavy cream.
 
There is also a difference between pasteurized and ultra pasteurized milk and dairy products. Ultra pasteurized is usually sold in the paper carton and is heated to a much higher temperature and gets a much longer date. Regular pasteurized often comes in plastic jugs and isn't heated as high, causing it to go bad faster.

I can have a carton of whole milk open for more than 2 weeks and it's still fine, same goes for my ultra pasteurized heavy cream.


Yes, but only until you open the bottle/carton. Then the regular or ultra pasteurization makes no difference.
 
I used to be able to buy restaurant pasteurized milk and half and half. I would never have a problem with them going bad. Now I can't find it anywhere in my area. I also found that the dates on the restaurant ones had a longer shelf life. Now the dates are for shorter length of time. But I go through milk products very fast. So I still don't have any problem. But they do taste different. Not as rich. I wish I lived next door to a dairy farm. I would be buying raw milk. :angel:
 
The "sell by" or "best used by date" came about because consumers wanted to know how fresh their purchases were. It also shows you the hour and "date" it was processed. I used to know how to read those convoluted numbers and letters. But I forgot. Will have to look it up.

I used to shop at a small store right near me that sold their products that has a "sell by" date on them. The stores would pull them, Wilson's would collect them and sell them in their discount store at a lower price. I was told that their milk products were still good five days after the "sell by" date. I never reached those five days. Milk has always gone fast in my house. :angel:
 
There is also a difference between pasteurized and ultra pasteurized milk and dairy products. Ultra pasteurized is usually sold in the paper carton and is heated to a much higher temperature and gets a much longer date. Regular pasteurized often comes in plastic jugs and isn't heated as high, causing it to go bad faster.

I can have a carton of whole milk open for more than 2 weeks and it's still fine, same goes for my ultra pasteurized heavy cream.

bc, do you know if ultra milk (apparently from udderly fantastic cows :cool:) loses any of its nutritional value in the extra treatment?
 
Yes, but only until you open the bottle/carton. Then the regular or ultra pasteurization makes no difference.

This is only from personal experience, but I think that ultra pasteurized being almost sterile to begin with does make it last longer once opened, since there is virtually no bacteria to begin with. I know that the ultra will stay fine up to 3 weeks open when the regular would last about a week. I sniff milk when it's been open a while and I'm always surprised that it hasn't turned. I just finished off a carton that had been opened a good 3 weeks (we don't consume much milk). Again this is just personal experience, my fridge could be extra cold or something.
 
This is only from personal experience, but I think that ultra pasteurized being almost sterile to begin with does make it last longer once opened, since there is virtually no bacteria to begin with. I know that the ultra will stay fine up to 3 weeks open when the regular would last about a week. I sniff milk when it's been open a while and I'm always surprised that it hasn't turned. I just finished off a carton that had been opened a good 3 weeks (we don't consume much milk). Again this is just personal experience, my fridge could be extra cold or something.

I find that to be true with ultra pasteurized heavy cream, it lasts and lasts a long time after it is opened.
 
I freeze milk. I normally can't drink a gallon of milk before it turns sour (the Girls love sour milk), so I put it in 1 qt zippies and toss it in the freezer.
 
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