Milk going sour well before Best Before date

Joe1234 said:

Yes, was told by a creamery worker that the cartons last longer than the plastic 2 litre bottles

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Probably due to the fact that the carton prevents the milk being exposed to light.

zag said:

No, when we are in a hurry and need something resembling milk and don't have time to go to the supermarket. That is why they are rare occasions. Do you ask this many questions in the real world ?

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I just find it odd that you would buy milk that is consistently wonky - even in an emergency. And, yes, I probably do ask this many questions in the real world.

Never have the problem of milk going off in our house and that's despite buying between 36 to 48 litres a week for 4 people! Must have shares in the dairies at this stage

I have found this on occasion as well, though not so much since the weather has turned colder. From experience, it's also far likelier to happen with skimmed milk than semi-skimmed or full fat milk.

Have found this recently also. It seems to be that it happens to milk that I buy from petrol stations and/or Spar Centra type shops. Usually buy the plastic container types where you can see the milk and have come to the conclusion that the handling is bad, fridges are not cold enough (open type) and in such locations there are product is stored under fairly bright light. I now buy in larger supermarkets where the turnover of product is probablly higher.

The reason we have extended lifelines on milk and other fresh products is due to enhanced sterilisation, quality and and hygiene standards within the food industry.

So for example, UHT (long-life) is the ultimate as it goes through super heat sterilisation and is packaged within same environment.

Our fresh milk is homogenised and pasteurised, whiuch is a form of sterilisation. It goes off proportionally to the remaining bacteria left within it's packaging environment, coupled with the higher temperatures and light levels that these bacteria multiply at.

It can be quite common for the manufacturing/processing plant to be suffering from an "infection" (pasteuriser leak letting in air) which can culminate in long periods of milk going off before due date.

I buy 3 two litre plastic bottles at a time from Lidl. Never had a problem with it going off.

On the other hand my mother buys milk from another supermarket - a litre at a time - and finds regularly that it has gone off. Her fridge appears to work fine.

Perhaps that's the milk that Willy Wonka uses in his chocolate bars!!

Spicey