I think there was a discussion here some time ago about this but it seems like there is something going on with the milk we buy that has never been a thing before.

Twice now in the past month, from two different sources; Aldi and our local grocery store chain Giant, the 2% milk my wife buys has gone bad like nasty smelly bad 4-5 days BEFORE the printed expiration date!

What is going on here? It used to be I could keep using milk for days after the expiration date and have no issues but now it's going bad before?

Anyone else here seeing this? Our fridge is less than 2 years old and right at the correct temp so it's not that.

Same brand milk from both places?

HEB Organic Whole Milk in our house.
We rarely have a gallon last to the exp date.
The few times we do, we can usually get a day or two beyond with no change in smell/taste.

The milk was probably not stored correctly somewhere along the supply chain before you bought it.
It could be that the date was changed so they didn't have to dump it, but I'll give Aldi the benefit of doubt on that.

We're getting the same thing with full fat milk from Safeway. Seems like within two days after purchase, it starts getting a sour smell.

The use by dates on the label seem to be less farther out as well, but show little correlation with the perceived freshness of the product.

the organic milks are treated differently:

process called ultrahigh temperature (UHT) processing or treatment, in which milk is heated to 280 degrees Fahrenheit (138 degrees Celsius) for two to four seconds, killing any bacteria in it.

https://www.scientificamerican...c-milk-lasts-longer/

quote:

Originally posted by WaterburyBob:
The milk was probably not stored correctly somewhere along the supply chain before you bought it.

That's my thought, several stops along the way, it sat out unrefrigerated. Seeing that we're in the middle of hot-season, doesn't take much for crates to sit on the loading dock warming-up awaiting movement into the refer or, someone at the check-stand not getting items back into place.
Bring it back, hope you got the receipt as most stores will just exchange it out no problem.

Yep.
Supply chain (mis)handling.

With the general lack of "give a shit" by so many people in the workforce, this should be no surprise.

I have seen moldy cheese, bread, in the stores, stocked that day, meat going bad, and even eggs having lost moisture (tough membranes and "weak" yolks), along with "fresh" vegetables being that in name only.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

Same brand milk from both places?

Store brand from Aldi and Giant

Couple weeks ago we bought some name-brand Italian sausages from a Meijer store. After preparing them the same way we've been doing it for over 20 years, it tasted bad and we threw out several hour's work and several nights' dinners.

In this case, we are just being more selective when we pick out our groceries, but that wouldn't help with milk.

Got tired of dealing with this some years ago. I switched to powdered and mix a quart Ball's jar at a time. Took a couple weeks to get used to it but now I don't even like regular milk anymore. Really only use it for coffee and dunkin cookies in though.

I mostly get the fakes now too. For me it’s usually almond or soy milk, the main reason is a longer use life.

I’m not picky, don’t mind a little different taste. It’s mostly on cereal anyway.

Yep. Here, too.

One other possibility is the temperature in your refrigerator. Milk sours faster than most things so if the refrigerator is struggling to stay cool, sour milk can be an early sign.

This happened to us recently when a circulation fan went out and had to be replaced.

Along the poor handling line of thought.

Has it been unusually hot? Delivery trucks are many times struggling to maintain temperatures. Couple that with the normal wait time (too long)on a dock getting checked in. Now your rolling milk into a cooler that is barely maintaining temp, or quite possibly over temp by a bit. Cooler unit at store is going to be stressed too. I wouldn’t be buying milk at the c-store unless I knew for a fact it was treated properly. It’s more difficult to do that for a dozen stops, throughout the day, not impossible, but more difficult.


This kind of weather finds me buying half gallons, those extras remain sealed and don’t leave the fridge 4-6 times till gone.

quote:

Originally posted by StarTraveler:
One other possibility is the temperature in your refrigerator. Milk sours faster than most things so if the refrigerator is struggling to stay cool, sour milk can be an early sign.

This happened to us recently when a circulation fan went out and had to be replaced.

My fridge is less than 2 years old and the temp readout says 37 which is the normal reading for a GE

quote:

Originally posted by reflex/deflex 64:

Has it been unusually hot?

Yes it was an insanely hot June and first half of July for the Northeast with temps at what we normally don't see until late July or August; 95-100 degrees. It only started cooling down this week with some actual rain. That may be the issue here, I never thought about the whole weather factor.

We have noticed it also. Several times in the last 6 months or so, milk had to be discarded well before the expiration date.

I have had similar experiences

We had a long thread on this very topic going in the What's Your Deal section. I think Bald1 posted it. You're far from alone, my wife and I have noticed it intermittently over the last four years. Different places, different stores, and different parts of the country, some of them right by the dairy the milk comes from.

The early bad milk is something wife and I have noticed quite a bit and it seems to be the same across different grocery store chains. Its not the temp of the refrigerator.

The fix for us is to buy Horizon milk which is ultra pasteurized, but it costs $5.99 and half gallon, however it has a 6 week long life. We've never had one go bad early.

While the price makes you wince, paying $2.99 for a half gallon but throwing some away isn't a bargain. I'd rather pay more for milk and have it stay good.

We buy ours at Costco. It regularly gets used way past the date they give ya. Like at least a week more. No other source even comes close. Plus it just tastes the best of all of 'em.

We do keep our milk on the bottom at the very back though.