# Do you smell the milk in the carton before pouring it? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 19, 2015, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smell-the-milk-in-the-carton-before-pouring-it/722943 "2015-06-19T13:03:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smell-the-milk-in-the-carton-before-pouring-it/722943/41 "2015-06-29T01:15:50Z")
Yes, out of sheer habit… ---
**Author:** ![apollonia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@apollonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/apollonia)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smell-the-milk-in-the-carton-before-pouring-it/722943/42 "2015-06-29T01:45:39Z")
No, because we have bagged milk here and it’s very difficult to smell anything out of the tiny corner hole. And also because we go through eight litres of milk a week in our house. The odds that it had gone bad are so vanishingly rare that it never enters my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Saro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Saro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saro)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smell-the-milk-in-the-carton-before-pouring-it/722943/43 "2015-06-29T02:33:40Z")
I smell it, doesn’t matter where I am. It’s not like being at a friend’s/relative’s/whatever’s house means that milk doesn’t go sour. There’s not really anything wrong or rude with smelling it, as far as I can tell (if that’s the reason that people wouldn’t smell it at someone else’s house). ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smell-the-milk-in-the-carton-before-pouring-it/722943/44 "2015-06-29T02:43:14Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Only if the milk smells “off” when opened. We tend to go through a new gallon within 72 hours of opening so there’s no real concern unless it goes bad well before the date on the carton. How do you know it smells off if you aren’t smelling it every time? That’s why I went with yes on saying I always smell milk, even if I don’t always explicitly stop and take a huge whiff. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smell-the-milk-in-the-carton-before-pouring-it/722943/45 "2015-06-29T02:45:24Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > While that’s not impossible, the pasteurization and carton-sealing processes make it very unlikely that an unopened bottle of milk goes bad before you buy it. For UHT, sure. Elsewhere, not so much. If that were true, milk wouldn’t go bad unopened in my own fridge, which it definitely does. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smell-the-milk-in-the-carton-before-pouring-it/722943/46 "2015-06-29T05:28:32Z")
1. it’s the sell by date option and 2) I make my husband do it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smell-the-milk-in-the-carton-before-pouring-it/722943/47 "2015-06-29T15:33:08Z")
Too many kids here to need to smell milk anymore, we go through 4-7 gallons a week… However, if you aren’t in that situation, I recommend that you pour a little into a cup and smell THAT. Because there’s always a little rim around the edge of the carton that can smell off as it dries, but the liquid milk in the carton can be just fine. I do this for cream or half and half, because I don’t use it in such great quantities, and it seems really variable how fresh it stays in my fridge, opened or unopened. I’m not sure why. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smell-the-milk-in-the-carton-before-pouring-it/722943/48 "2015-06-30T08:42:34Z")
I almost hurl every time I scroll past this thread. Smelling “fresh today” milk would make me hurl. Can we throw this one in the quarry? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smell-the-milk-in-the-carton-before-pouring-it/722943/49 "2015-06-30T10:25:14Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > I almost hurl every time I scroll past this thread. Smelling “fresh today” milk would make me hurl. Can we throw this one in the quarry? Me too! ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smell-the-milk-in-the-carton-before-pouring-it/722943/50 "2015-06-30T10:39:03Z")
> [@apollonia](#): > > No, because we have bagged milk here and it’s very difficult to smell anything out of the tiny corner hole. > > And also because we go through eight litres of milk a week in our house. The odds that it had gone bad are so vanishingly rare that it never enters my mind. Yep, rather hard to sniff through a half inch slit in the milk bag. Also, I don’t think my sense of smell is refined enough to know when milk is bad. I mean, sure if it had curdled and been stinking to high heaven I could tell, but just turning sour? I wouldn’t be able to tell from smell alone. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smell-the-milk-in-the-carton-before-pouring-it/722943.md?page=2)