4 ms·

As a consumer I only want to know two things... 1) Use By (if properly stored) 2) Best By (a guess about quality, should be BEFORE above) Note th

by mjevans 10y ago

As a consumer I only want to know two things... 1) Use By (if properly stored) 2) Best By (a guess about quality, should be BEFORE above) Note that both of these are /best case/ outcomes. Food can and frequently does go bad before then. An example that comes to mind is highly pasteurized milk. IF SEALED and STORED PROPERLY it can indeed live to that date. However I've also noticed that it tends to go bad at roughly a fixed time after unsealing, even if it's well before that date.

deleted 10y ago
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kevinh 10y ago
I've used plenty of products past the use by date (including milk). In my experience, the use by date is generally a pretty conservative estimate when it comes to noticeable degradation in quality.
rahimnathwani 10y ago
"You've noticed"? It's printed on every pack of UHT milk I've seen: 'After opening, refrigerate and use within x days'. UHT isn't some magic process that allows milk to sit in an open container for months.
- mjevans 10y ago
  As a followup: I checked the milk in my apartment's fridge. My room mate's only lists a pull date and has no other handling instructions (not even to refrigerate). The milk I am buying /now/ happens to mention, in otherwise completely ignoble and normal looking text in an out of the way area, to refrigerate and use within 7 days of opening, but not past the printed date. I would hazard that most consumers have read the directions on milk /maybe/ once, if at all, and have been operating on prior behavior since then.
  - rahimnathwani 10y ago
    "My room mate's only lists a pull date and has no other handling instructions (not even to refrigerate)" I'm not sure where you live but, if in the US, you room-mates milk packaging is contrary to FDA regulations. See this doc: https://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/GuidanceRegulation/UCM209789.pdf https://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/GuidanceRegulation/UCM209... Section 4, paragraph 3, point 2 says that milk subject to 'aseptic processing' (defined earlier in the same doc, as milk that can be stored without refrigeration in a hermetically sealed container) must be labeled with the words 'keep refrigerated after opening'.

by mjevans 10y ago

deleted 10y ago

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kevinh 10y ago

I've used plenty of products past the use by date (including milk). In my experience, the use by date is generally a pretty conservative estimate when it comes to noticeable degradation in quality.

rahimnathwani 10y ago

"You've noticed"? It's printed on every pack of UHT milk I've seen: 'After opening, refrigerate and use within x days'. UHT isn't some magic process that allows milk to sit in an open container for months.

mjevans 10y ago
As a followup: I checked the milk in my apartment's fridge. My room mate's only lists a pull date and has no other handling instructions (not even to refrigerate). The milk I am buying /now/ happens to mention, in otherwise completely ignoble and normal looking text in an out of the way area, to refrigerate and use within 7 days of opening, but not past the printed date. I would hazard that most consumers have read the directions on milk /maybe/ once, if at all, and have been operating on prior behavior since then.
- rahimnathwani 10y ago
  "My room mate's only lists a pull date and has no other handling instructions (not even to refrigerate)" I'm not sure where you live but, if in the US, you room-mates milk packaging is contrary to FDA regulations. See this doc: https://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/GuidanceRegulation/UCM209789.pdf https://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/GuidanceRegulation/UCM209... Section 4, paragraph 3, point 2 says that milk subject to 'aseptic processing' (defined earlier in the same doc, as milk that can be stored without refrigeration in a hermetically sealed container) must be labeled with the words 'keep refrigerated after opening'.