A friend of mine and I are arguing over what the expiration date on a carton of milk is intended to mean.
See poll for options.
We both agree that the date is meaningless if the milk is lumpy or smells bad. 
It’s the intent of the date that matters.
The milk in my fridge says “Best By.” So it is not intended to be an expiration date, and I’ll bet that whoever among the two of you thinks so also changes his oil every 3000 miles.
Errr…typo in poll option one. It should say something like “sell it or the last day you should open it”.
Yeah–assume I said “Best by”. Mine says that too.
One of us thinks that “Best by” means once opened “it’ll turn bad in a few days after that”; the other thinks once opened “it’ll turn bad a few weeks after that”
Milk that is a few days past its “sell by” date is fine to drink, although I wouldn’t leave it around too long. My kids and I love milk so the idea that a gallon would last more than two or three days at the most is kind of foreign. I don’t think an opened bottle will last ‘weeks’ even if opened before the best by date, but I’ve never been able to find out.
We’ve had milk (skim, if that matters) remain palatable 2 full weeks past the sell by date. If it doesn’t pass the sniff test, down the drain it goes. I rarely dump more than a cup or two out of a gallon jug, so it’s cheaper than buying quarts.
The actual meaning is more like - the last date we’ll guarantee the quality of the product.
Ie, it will probably be good after that date but we can’t guarantee it so this is the date we’re playing it safe with.
That’s what I thought I’ve remembered seeing, too, but I had to go check the milk I have right now in my fridge. There are two gallons, from two different stores. One of them says “Sell by,” and the other doesn’t have any words—just the date.
Seeing the words “Sell by” surprised me a little, since I hadn’t remembered seeing them before on milk, and since the milk I buy in the store usually has a week or two to go before the date stamped on the jug. So I’m leaning toward changing my answer from something like choice #2 to something like choice #1.
Really, though, I’d still be nervous about drinking/using milk that was more than a day or two past the date stamped on it. I might still do so, but only after checking to make sure it still smelled and tasted okay.
In the U.S., it depends on what state you’re in. From here:
And from the same article, they say the rule of thumb is that milk is good for 5 days past the sell-by date. I don’t know whose thumb they used for that.
I checked option #1, the last day the seller can let it stay on the shelf. I buy milk that has a date about a week and a half after the day I buy it. It usually stays good for about a week past that. The only time I’ve had a bad jug of milk, it hadn’t reached its sell-by date by the time I opened it, so I took it back to the store and they let me exchange it.
In the US, milk date labels are regulated at the state level, and the regulations vary both in their intended application (Sell By vs. Use By), and in the number of days out from pasteurization that their formulas deem acceptable. In states with Sell By regulation, it is usually illegal to offer milk for sale after that date; state inspectors can fine retailers on the spot if they find a violation.
Given the variation, that’s a rough rule at best. Personally, I find myself wanting to throw milk out even before the Sell By dates.
I’m drinking milk with a January 2016 expiration date. :eek:
Don’t fret. We keep milk in our freezer and bring it out to thaw in the fridge when the current one is running low.
The only thing I’ve found with drinking previously frozen milk is to make sure you shake the jug first, otherwise it’s watery.
I won’t keep it that long either. Also depends on the brand, I know the milk from one of the popular dairies around here doesn’t keep well, I wouldn’t touch that stuff anywhere near the Sell By date. Their cream doesn’t last either, I just won’t buy it anymore, the Hood cream is good for a month or more after it’s date.
And here I am in Washington with the 21-day after pasteurization rule and I routinely have milk taste just fine for a week or so past the date on the jug.
It definitely depends on how you store the milk though. I’ve had some extended family members living with me and they believe that proper milk usage is to take it out of the fridge while preparing breakfast and leave it on the table. Then it goes back into the fridge at the same time they wash the plates after breakfast. Me, I pull the milk out, pour a glass and put it straight back in.
It should be no surprise that they insist milk will go bad about two weeks faster than I think it will go bad.
My takeaway from this story: Quit looking at dates and put the damn milk back in the fridge!
This is what I would have said, not only for milk but for perishable food in general. I see from later responses that there are specific meanings for “use by” or “sell by” in the case of milk.
Note that spoilage of milk is significantly accelerated by rises in temperature. As I recall, even leaving it out of the fridge for 20 or 30 seconds has an affect on how long it stays good.
And if you have someone who insists on drinking right out of the jug and putting it back in the fridge?
I don’t know if studies have been done, but I’ve got to think adding random bacteria to the jug is a really, really bad idea.
I sometimes buy 2 pints of half and half. I open one and the other one sits in the fridge till the first one is gone. This has taken up to 3 months. Half and half is pasteurized more than regular milk but the older half and half is always fine.
Just because it’s past the stamped date does not mean it’s “bad” or anything. My mom used to make cottage cheese with milk that went sour. Yes there’s some bad pathogens that can be present, but it’s very very rare…read up on making home made yougert…for example, listeria is found in one in 1300 samples.
It’s mainly a matter of taste to me. I’m aware that I have thrown away milk that’s perfectly safe.
As others have said it’s a sell by date so it is okay to drink for days after (probably not weeks as your option states).
Most of those dates for many products are pulled out of thin air anyway. There’re few laws governing them.