I just drank some bad milk. Not enough that I’m worried about serious effects, I figure that the worst that could happen is I’ll get a stomachache for a little while. It wasn’t very bad, looked normal, but once I got some in my mouth it had an unusual tangy taste, and afterwards I noticed that it smelled a bit strange (not a strong enough smell for me to notice beforehand). Is there anything I can do to minimize the effects? I’ve been drinking water to dilute it and its taste. I’m going to call the number on the bottle to tell the company, should I also tell the store? The date on the milk said July 29, so it was supposed to still be good.
You won’t get sick. If it was that bad you wouldn’t have swallowed it. And you still wouldn’t get sick. But you can probably get a fresh carton if you take it back to the store.
A friend of mine woke up one morning and took a big swig of water from a glass sitting on the table…but it was ammonia he had been using for fertilizing his plants. He’s alive but had some brain damage, so instead of still living in a cardboard box he is now a senior buyer on the Apache project at Boeing.
Bad!! Rejoice you happy fool! You’ve discovered the secret of immortality! That “tangy” taste you noticed was the essence of life itself in it’s purest form.
Buttermilk for everyone!
That date on the milk is not a magic number. It is intended to predict the SHELF life of the milk. That is to say that it tries to predict how long the milk will stay good if it is kept refrigerated, and has NEVER been opened. Once you have opened the milk, ignore the date stamped on the side of the container. Your nose is the best indicator at this point.
Having written that… July 29 is still a ways off as far as milk goes, so I would suspect that the milk was bad to begin with (I suppose I don’t have to tell you that 
), so I’d take it back to the store also.
BTW, has anyone tried squeezing a slice of lemon in their glass of milk? Mmmmmmmmm. 
Eh, Wevets, my WAG is that you’re not gonna die after all. Your body has a hard-wired mechanism to keep you from drinking stuff that’s really gonna make you sick. If the milk had really been dangerously spoiled, your taste buds and olfactory system would have kicked in with the famous Mr. Yuck reflex and prevented you from drinking it in the first place (assuming you’re not either stoned out of your mind, or simply dangerously deranged).
Frankly, I’d be surprised if you even got a stomachache.
P.S. I don’t think that buttermilk is quite the same thing as slightly “off” milk. That tangy taste you noticed is what we call “fridge flavor”, purest essence of refrigeration.
I do not think spoiled milk is bad in any way except taste. I believe it is just as nutritious if not delicious. In a way it is like wine turning to vinegar rather than like meat or fish or vegetables spoiling.
Well, my mother made my brother and me drink almost an entire gallon of “off” milk over a few days once. We told her there was something wrong with it, but she insisted that it was just different because the cows had switched from grain to grass. We just put a lot of strawberry Qwik in it and choked it down. I’m still alive 25 years later—and I’ve never let her live that one down. Yuck.
What do you think cheese is?