When does milk go bad?
 

With 4 kids, we've been buying milk by the gallon for the last 15 years. As 2 kids have moved out, we haven't dropped back to the smaller size container, and it now sits longer in the fridge. As Mrs BamaVol and I were finishing breakfast this morning, she made a face and asked what was the expiration date on the milk. I looked and it was 7 days ago. Both of us had a bowl of cereal with a half cup or so of milk. I hadn't noticed anything myself. She didn't until she took a spoonful of milk after the cereal was gone from the bowl. She sniffed the milk container and gagged.

It's 2 hours later, and other than a little "growly in the bowely", we're both ok.
I've always viewed the date on the milk as a sell by date.

When does the milk become dangerous?

When you open it up and it's lumpy and smelly...you shouldn't drink it. :D

Seems to me that I can drink milk about a week past its expiry date...I believe skim milk last longer than, say, whole milk.

I go by the smell test and if I detect the slightest hint of something foul, I dump it down the drain.

I agree with UNITED959 on the smell test, but I don't know when it actually becomes dangerous, though if I were to see some green on the milk, I would assume that it has passed that point.

Some companies do or have in the past advertised their milk to be good for a week past its "sell by" date. Pet and King Soopers come to mind, but maybe only for the paper cartons, not the plastic jugs. I have found other milk, particularly some in plastic jugs to be turning on or before the date printed. I don't know whether different milk bottlers use different schemes for the date on the container, but it would seem so. For regular grocery-store milk, I've generally found the paper cartons to hold up better than the plastic containers.

I'm fortunate enough to live near a dairy store, who's milk is very recently "harvested" and bottled in glass. Their code dates are accurate to slightly conservative (i.e. I don't remember any of their milk turning before the code date). Milk I bought on 8/17 has a code date of 9/2, so that's about 16 days, which would seem a reasonable estimate for shelf life of milk, if kept properly refrigerated. If I look for milk in a regular grocery store, it is a challenge to find a carton with a code date of more than a week, which may suggest how much shipping time is involved.

I don't know if this is really true or not, but I think milk will stay better longer depending on the amount left in the container. E.G. if there is about an inch left it might go bad faster than a full container. I can usually start to taste milk going bad around the expiration; however that is usually when I am getting near the end of it.

Brian

I have noticed that organic milk lasts a lot longer than regular...as in expiration dates ~3 weeks out. I'm not sure what the organic-ness has to do with shelf life, but that's what I've observed.

Likely, because it's only bottled in small quantities for folks willing to pay the price, it reaches the store shelf more quickly and sits there a shorter period of time.

Them crafty Uropeens will sell you milk which lasts nearly forever, and the container doesn't even glow in the dark.

For those of us reduced to skim or 1% milk, what flavor remains is so minimal that one could hardly tell when it had soured.

....And there's naught wrong with drinking sour milk. After all, we use sour cream, eat cheese, butter and any number of "soured" milk products. ^

When does milk go bad?
 

...when it holds up the lettuce. :D

I'm here all week folks, tip your waiters.

On a tangent, I've had much better luck with milk bottled in glass, rather in plastic. I get my milk from Ronnybrook Farms, and my experience has been that when I buy it from them at the farmers' market in glass, it'll last a few days past the date, but when I buy their milk in plastic from Fresh Direct (a NYC internet grocery) it'll go nasty basically on the date. Then again, that may say more about Fresh Direct than it says about glass vs. plastic.

I also work on the smell test, and the "creates chunks when you pour it into coffee" test. And the "itty bitty sip" test when I don't trust my nose.

There's one brand of organic milk in the store (Amish something, I think) that always has a really long date on it--I wonder if they've done some sort of extra processing?

The brand you buy may be ultra-pasteurized, which is the common practice with lactose-free milk for some reason. This extends the expiration to about 3-4 weeks.

Are you talking about the stuff in a carton that sits on an unrefrigerated shelf in the store? I've been curious, but we still consume quite a bit of milk and opt for the big cheap jugs of 2%. For sure, I will be buying the smaller big jugs in the future.

I'm not sure I would trust the uncontrolled deterioration of dairy in my refrigerator as much as factory cotrolled, government regulated and inspected production of sour cream, yogurt and cheese. I don't know that the product that results from ignoring expiration dates at home is any of those. :eek:

Final chapter, hopefully: it's been 7 hours and I have no symptoms. I think the milk was ok although possibly well on its way to bad.

I use the week-beyond rule as well.

Suggestion... buy the half gallons of organic milk... it costs more, but it's good for like 1 1/2 months.

I'm excited to finally find a topic where I can make a contribution.

That said, I can only add a few points. The most common way to shorten the "shelf life" of fresh milk is by improper handling. Milk should be stored at a temperature of 41 degrees F(5C) or less. Food service guidelines state that if it remains above this temperature for more than 4 hours, there is a significant risk of dangerous levels of pathogenic microorganisms (bugs).

Experience tells me that milk that has remained well chilled will usually last 5-7 days past the "sell-by" date. In areas such as my home (Texas), it can be hard to get it back from the store in the summer at the proper temperature. Can you say - I hate warm milk! ;)

If you are in good health and are not immune compromised, you can probably deal with a little sour milk with no lasting effects.

I usually ignore the sell by date and give up about a week after opening, as at that point there is usually the beginnings of an off odor. This is with standard store brand skim milk. We usually buy it in quarts. :D (I eat my morning cereal during the week here at the office, so I'll buy a quart here. Then we buy a quart at home for the weekend.)

There's a possibility different container materials may lengthen the shelf life (the cheapo store brand is in clear plastic jugs, even for the quarts and half-gallons, vs the opaque plastic or the paperboard containers), but it's not worth the price differences or searching around in different stores to find this sort of thing.

I wouldn't make a blanket generalization like this. For instance, sour cream is cream that's fermented with specific bacteria. If other types of bacteria start to grow in it, it will go bad, which is why sour cream comes with an expiration date. Similarly, blue cheeses contain specific molds that are safe to eat, but if your cheddar starts growing mold, that is something you shouldn't eat. So some of what grows in your milk may be safe, some of it may not. Unless you know for sure, it's safest to toss it.

If you buy milk in NYC, it has two exipration dates on it--one for New York City, and one for all other areas. NYC apparently has stricter regulations on how long after pasteurization milk can be sold, so when milk goes bad depends on who you ask.

relevant link

I'm a little milk-phobic, so I won't drink it if it is a few days close to the expiration date. It gets a little sketchy-smelling around then. Of course, we live in the high desert and it can be challenging getting the milk home at a cold temperature to preserve it, so that might be a factor, too.

Provided you don't leave it out, the date on the label will be very accurate. You might be able to drink it for a little while after, but it won't taste very good. As everyone said, smell is the best way. Bad milk smells like s**t. Unfortunately, it tastes even worse. If it fails the smell test, don't bother with the taste one.

On a side note, here's a good test for eggs. In case an egg looks like it is bad, fill up a tall glass of water. The egg should hit the bottom. If it floats, throw it out. Bacteria have caused gas inside the egg and are causing it to float.

I may be wrong, but I think most lactose-free milk is ultra-pasteurized because that disables the lactose, so that it cannot react with lactase enzymes.

And, we keep milk 2-3 max past its expiration date. As for the drugs... some drugs (fortunately not very many) DO go bad after their expiration dead... tetracycline can become very dangerous and things like hydrogen peroxide lose effectiveness with light and over time, thus why it is stored in a dark brown bottle.

Here in NYC my experience has been that milk in plastic jugs usually acquires a slightly off smell by the NYC sell-by date - or maybe I just have bad luck with milk. (At which point it gets dumped as I don't want to take the risk.) Though, the quality of perishables at the average Manhattan neighborhood grocery store seems noticeably worse than that of the standard gigantic grocery stores I used to go to in the midwest.

I recall reading a report recently that women (at least some) are more sensitive to milk which may be past its prime and are more able to detect its going toward bad before men.

With that said, I try to buy milk with 12-14 days to go before sell by date which usually gives me around three weeks before there is an issue. Since, in L.A. at most markets you can buy 2 gallons for around the price of 1 and 1/3 separate gallons (Costco fighting measure) I go for the two gallons, and put any bad milk on the roses which my gardening neighbors swears produces giant blooms. @:-)

Mrs BamaVol's pretty good at detecting when men are past their prime. :D

Mrs. Redbeard has acute olfactory senses. The joke in our house is that she can be in the garage and smell cat pee in the basement.

Aaah, yes, I used to buy that UHT milk as an undergrad student...... Never went bad, but it tastes and smells like stinky monkey butt in the first place, so how'd ya know......?!?!

:D I was reminded of a bread mix I think Mrs BamaVol baked a month or 2 ago. It was called Monkey Bread. I'm guessing UHT milk could be used.

Remember that ultraviolet light (such as flourescent light) supposedly shortens life. So a transparent/semi-opaque container sitting in the front of the shelf may go off sooner than one at the back of the shelf, or one packaged in an opaque container.

Not quite the same but I find high-fat (10%+) milk/cream stays o.k. longer than milk.

More like women have better smell and taste (more likely to be supertasters) than men?

Cool... I always dig for the back anyway, since that's where the new milk is.

Yup... half/half lasts longer, and whipping cream lasts forever.

Also, I'm totally the opposite of granola, but I buy organic milk not because it's organic, but it lasts for 2-3 months. Since we don't go through milk that fast, it's well worth the increased cost.

Plus, it does taste better.

When my boys were younger, I used to always have a box of oat milk in the cabinet for those mornings when they used the last of the regular milk and wanted more cereal or something.

They preferred the oat milk from the carton to regular shelf-stable milk; the latter does "taste funny."

That's UHT, or Ultra High Temperature treatment. It does taste different from "fresh" milk which of course tastes different from unpasteurised milk.

My own rule of thumb adds into account when the milk was opened. A sealed container of milk will last longer than one that has been opened. So, I have found that the 5-7 day rule holds from when the milk is opened or from the sell by date, which ever comes first. You definitely can't keep an open carton/bottle of milk for 3 weeks even if the sell by date hasn't been reached yet.

I found this on the web:
1. How long after the "sell by" date is an opened container of milk good?
2. How long after the "sell by" date is an UNOPENED container of milk good?

Answers:

Sell date - The final date the product should be sold. It allows for storage time at home. Examples of products that display sell dates are refrigerated dough products, luncheon meats and milk. This is the last day that the product can be sold in the grocery store.

Recommend Storing Milk between 34° F and 38° F: Milk stays fresh and tastes best longest at these temperatures, and will often be of good quality beyond the sell-date if maintained cold. Much depends on how a product was handled before you bought it. Milk past its sell-date may still be fine if it's been kept very cold. At warmer temperatures, spoilage bacteria are more likely to grow, shortening the practical shelf-life of the product. Always return unused containers or portions of milk promptly to the refrigerator.

Buy milk fresh, keep it cold and protect It from light. Though properly held milk should still be acceptable beyond the code date, milk does not improve with age and will not be as fresh tasting. Unopened containers of food can be kept longer than opened containers. Opened containers of milk can be stored in the refrigerator for 1 week after they have been opened. Be sure to check the date on the carton.

If milk is close to the "sell date," let your nose be the guide and smell it. If it doesn't smell right, toss it!

Also, Did you finish the decoupage with the wine labels?

msv

That's more to do with exposing the milk to bacteria and other contaminants. If you opened and kept the container in a sterile environment, it'll probably stay "fresh" just as long.

The project went on the back burner due to my schedule. I'll pick it back up in June. I've done well creating empty wine bottles, though. :D

The smell taste is enough for me, but I also am a bit phobic and won't go past the sell by date. I do sometimes by the Skim-plus which seems to have a 3-4 week timeframe for the sell-by date. I also find for some reason if the milk sits in the refridge unsued for say 3 or 4 days, it gets that funky smell (not quite sour yet, but a bitter smell) and I dump it.

My fridge keeps things at 33 degrees F. At that temp even an opened container of milk keeps about a month.

You could pasturize it again by boiling it again, then letting it cool and storing it in a fridge, could you not? :)

At the factory, milk is pasturized at 161.5 degrees for 16 seconds. The lower the temperture, the longer the holding time. Flavor is lost at lower temps and flavor is lost at higher temps.

QC at the company I worked took samples right off the filling line, put into a home type frig at 40 degrees. We expected that milk to be as fresh as day one at 40 days.

Opening the gable top carton with dirty hands is the best way to reduce shelf life.

I have a weak stomach. so I dont take chances.The idea of smelling the milk and their being a chance of me smelling a nasty smell kills my appitite. I just buy the half gallons at least 3 weeks ahead of the exp date and finish it in a week.

When it smells awful and looks gooey.

I obey expiry dates. What does it really save me if I don't, 2 gallons of milk?