Levittown, PA - buying whatever the store I stop at carries. Lehigh or Rosenberger, usually. We've noticed our milk going sour days before the expiration date, but attributed it to storing it in the "milk compartment" on our refrigerator door.

Nice to know our fridge isn't broken.

@luckybob343: the door isn't the coldest part of the fridge

Organic milk lasts at least 2x as long, sometimes 3x if you dont open often. Sounds like it is worth the extra money.

I switched to soy for the very same reason. The milk consumption never really changed (I wasn't drinking less or taking longer to drink/use it), but it was going bad all the same. Took some getting used to, but soy is actually pretty decent.

@luckybob343: Yeah that was the first thing that comes to my mind is that the fridge isn't getting cold enough.

I can't agree though. We always have milk in the house, though we don't go through it fast or anything, and I can't say I've noticed it going bad faster. Maybe it's an isolated situation, or I'm just not very observant.

Yes. Our Kroger milk will start to turn about a week before the expiration date: about a day after we buy it. It's undrinkable a day or two before the date. A year ago it would last all the way to the expiration date, sometimes longer.

I noticed the Kroger fridge seems not very cold at all, but it's hard to tell since they keep the entire store just a few degrees above absolute zero.

Is there a particular reason why organic milk lasts longer?

The same thing happened to me with milk from Trader Joe's in Boston, MA. Though I didn't alert the management, I advise others to do so if this happens to you.

@puffyshirt: I second that.

You said "organic" milk lasts longer. I always assumed "organic" milk lacked preservatives. How does it last and how much longer does it last? Sometimes it might take me longer than two weeks to finish off the milk and there is nothing worse than having to toss out milk I paid for.

I don't think they are turning down their refer units b/c a lot of trucks have history reports to indicate what their temps are.

@copious28: I've been trying to make the switch to organic whenever possible, but the long shelf life of organic milk makes it a complete no-brainer.

We go through a gallon a week. We'll never get to test this in my house. :)

Milk's okay, but I prefer going to one store over the other mainly for price and quality. I'm not switching to soy milk because I think it's a scam since the Asian stores sell a lot of soy drink.

The milk carton in the pic is like "Wtf mate!?"

can't say i've noticed our milk going bad any earlier than usual, and we usually push it to the limit.

@Aesteval: I have no idea why this is, but Costco's organic milk does seem to stay fresh for an extremely long time. We stopped buying elsewhere once we started buying from Costco.

@snoop-blog:

Whatever it's saying, that picture rocks.

We've been in NYC for the past month for work and had three containers of milk go bad on us, all within a day or two. One place--Westside Market on 7th and 14th, sold us milk that was out of date. Our fault for not checking, but theirs for not _really_ checking. Best milk came in a glass bottle from Balduccis.

I've had the same problem lately. I had to pour a gallon of milk that was never opened down the drain because it had gone bad Saturday night. According to the date, it should have been fine up to tomorrow.

If the implication that truckers are turning down their refrigeration to save on fuel is at all true, there is a much broader issue in that those trucks carry everything from raw meats and poultry to a host of other perishables. Yikes!

Also, it's possible that the same factory is producing milk under different labels in some area of the US. So these could both be from the same place, which could be having temp. issues.

Bought some milk that was at least a week from it's expiration date recently, and it was already bad. Most disgusting mouthful ever.

We got a gallon of Hyvee organic that was sour when we opened it. It had about a week before the date expired. We usually have good luck with their organic though and generally it does stay fresh longer.

We have noticed that the expire dates on milk just put on the shelves is only a few days. It seems to be that way almost all the time when it used to almost always have a good two weeks on the label. I don't know if it is a demand change or some systematic change or backlog of milk or what.

I'm particularly wary of dairy in general, so I always give my milk a good sniff before I pour--even if I just opened it. One thing I've noticed for myself (and I'm sure others have too), is that the lesser the milkfat content, the faster the milk spoils. I think that's a matter of fat being a stabilizer of sorts. That being said, I do feel like my 1% spoils perhaps a bit too quickly, bought from Kroger in Ohio.

One other thing to think about is what that date on the bottle really means. Is it a "sell by" date or an "expiration date"? They're different. I always look for the milk with the date farthest from the present day. So if I buy milk with a stamped date of, say, July 27th, but I open it today, I almost expect it to spoil/expire if it goes unused until the 27th. However, if I buy it today, and I don't open it till the 23rd, it will surely make it to the 27th sans spoilage/expiration. Even if I opened it on the 27th, as long as the seal wasn't broken, I should be able to get a couple of days out of the milk before it spoils. I don't know how many times I've caught my husband trying to throw out sealed milk because it's close to the "expiration date" even though it hasn't been opened and exposed to the increased oxygen, germies, etc. that expedite the spoiling process.

Long story short...I don't go by the date. When in doubt, use your snout!

Yes. I am one of those peeps who get the furthest dated quart of half and half from the back of the dairy case.... usually giving me a month to use it.

Used to take almost forever for it to start to go bad, now it starts to smell funny after about two weeks. I have a "backup" quart of Coffeemate at the ready, just in case.

I have noticed the same thing and switched to organic milk.

@Aesteval: Most organic milks are ultra-pasteurized which means it is processed at a higher temperature than normal pasteurized milk. This kills more of the bad guys thus the milk stays fresher longer.

Purchased some Country Fresh from Rite Aid that went bad before the date.

As someone who can't drink milk at all, I hadn't noticed it going sour faster ;-).

@Angryrider: how is soy milk a "scam"?

I'll join in here and just say that my family and I have noticed that our milk from Mayfield is going sour quicker than it used to as well.

@Aesteval: Is it whole milk? Higher fat content = high stability = slower spoilage. That would be my first guess. Second guess would be that the organic product might be/is likely higher in quality from the start than standard store-brand fare.

If anyone is referring to the "sell by" date on milk, that's not really an expiration date. You should expect it to be good for at least a couple days past this, possibly up to a week with proper storage.

I'll pass on organic milk as there isn't really quality control, no pasteurization, etc.

My dad has been hauling milk from dairy farms for 30 years, so I'll tend to believe him.

Here's what I've noticed - the milk jugs seem to be in much worse shape when you buy them. I've had two start leaking before I even got home in the last couple months. I can't remember that ever happening before.

I agree that somewhere along the way costs are being cut - whether it be refrigeration, or packing, or speed - I'm not sure...

We get ours from a dairy that comes to the farmer's market. It really limits when we can pick up milk, but the milk tastes great! It would probably last forever if it ever made it longer than about six days in the fridge.

Not all organic milk lasts longer. Horizon and some other organic dairies pasteurize their milk at a higher temperature for a longer time to extend shelf life. This is clearly marked on the carton. It will say ULTRA-PASTEURIZED and not simply "pasteurized."

Ultra-pasteurized milk can be organic or not. And organic milk is not necessarily ultra-pasteurized. Several store brands of organic milk are not UP and will go bad as quickly as regular non-organic milk.

There is also UHT milk which is ultra-high temperature pasteurized milk. This milk is shelf-stable and is the milk you get in Europe on the grocery store shelf in a box or tetrapack.

Here is wikipedia on the differences:
[en.wikipedia.org]

We're from Colorado Springs and have found the same thing from Sinton Dairy (actually located here in Colorado Springs) happening too. Sam's Club is typically where we purchase our milk-and 99% of the time it is non-fat milk.

how odd...

We live in the metro DC area, on the Virginia side.

One of us usually buys a half-gallon of milk -- 1% or skim -- on either Saturday (my grocery trip) or on Monday (his grocery trip). We've been finding that we need to buy a new container every week, because it's usually *just* at that, "this smells a hair off but I can still use it to make mac & cheese tonight" point on day 7. Regardless of the "sell by" date, which is usually 5-9 days after the time we have to toss the milk.

I know that once you've opened it you're supposed to use it within a week, but I distinctly remember that when I was in grad school in Boston a few years back, I could usually get 10 days. My boyfriend is always perplexed how quickly our milk turns, too.

(I don't count 2005 - early 2008 for comparison, because I lived in New York City, where there is a WIDE variety of bodegas and grocery stores and it takes time to learn which ones in a neighborhood are reliable.)

We've been buying supermarket organic milk for 5 years now in 2 states... the cartons always last 3+ weeks. Never a problem.

I agree that somewhere along the way costs are being cut - whether it be refrigeration, or packing, or speed - I'm not sure...

You may be onto something. It's not like the grocery shrink ray can hit gallon and half-gallon jugs of milk. I bet the cost cutting measures are more underhanded.

Gotta throw my vote behind organic milk. I go through milk fairly slowly. Aside from avoiding the antibiotics and bovine hormone additives, it lasts for a very long time. I bought a half gallon at the end of June that doesn't go bad for another month. I haven't even opened it yet, and I'm not at all worried.

A quick look at the expiration dates in store will show that the organic milk will last much longer, or is at least a lot fresher before even getting to the store.

We all but gave up milk a couple of years ago. That said, I can not comment on this. However, I was just saying the other day that a lot of the produce we've purchased recently seems to be spoiling faster than it used to.

A connection? Perhaps. What? Don't know.

Get the lactose reduced milk if you dont like soy. It lasts far far longer than normal milk (And still is real milk!)

@LincolnK: That is patently false. Organic milk is pasteurized. It is illegal in most places to sell milk that isn't. Do you have some beef with organic products that makes you want to post false information?

@PhilWeinstein: I buy litghtly pasteurized (low temp) organic milk from an independent dairy via my farmers market - usually 4 to 5 gallons at a time, due to both my 2 year and her 45 yr. old dad drinking up to a half-gallon a day between them. Yes, whole milk...And when my husband's been out of town, those gallons last (unopened) for up to 3 weeks and another week after opening. So I fall on the higher-the-butterfat-content side of the argument, rather than thinking its the ultra-pasteurization.

@EllaMcWho: I meant lightly

I recently started buying local milk: Sparkman's via Whole Foods (I grew up on milk from Jersey cows and missed the delicate taste - most commercial milk is Holstein). The last two half-gallons went off before the sell-by date; I attributed it to the cornstarch-based biodegradable jugs, and have reluctantly gone back to Horizon.

FWIW, I get the best price on Horizon half-gallons at the local Quik-Trip gas station, which is both cool and kind of weird.

@Dobernella That was my understanding of it, nothing against organic. I guess I'll go do some reading.

I just support my local economy by milking a local cow. It's the best option.

Snark aside, I'll keep an eye out. I always buy the freshest milk possible, and even then half the time I feel like I have to rush to drink it all. It's a small victory when I use it all before it expires.

Usually I buy from Wal-Mart or a local chain and only once have I ever had a really nasty awful problem. Expired milk usually is that way. A good day or two before the date on the jug, and it tasted like bitter....bitterness.

"I've since switched to organic milk because it lasts for weeks."
Is this true?
If so, why?
I personally don't drink a ton of milk, and It seems to always be bad before it's empty. If organic milk does last longer, I am on board.