"sell by" vs "use by" date

tobejune · April 2013

Soooooo just had a yummy cup of frothed milk with protein powder. Went to put the milk back in the fridge and noticed it said "sell by march 23" on it. It smelled fine. Looked fine. Tasted fine. Am I going to regret this in a few hours?

Also, should I have some toast. Toast always sounds so good at 9:30 at night for some reason. Toast and almond butter. Yummmm.... Then again, if I'm going to be dyeing shortly from spoiled-milk-consumption-disease maybe it's best I don't have anything else.

Whadaya think?

jonnythan · April 2013

Sell by and use by dates are fairly arbitrary and based almost exclusively on palatability rather than safety.

"It can also help the purchaser to know the time limit to purchase or use the product at its best quality. It is not a safety date."
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/food_product_dating/

"If the milk in your refrigerator is a few days past its sell-by-date, drink it with confidence as long as it smells good."
http://www.healthyeating.org/Milk-Dairy/Dairy-Facts/Milk-Storage-Handling.aspx?Referer=dairycouncilofca

tobejune · April 2013

does 10 days qualify as a "few"? lol

You know what the sad thing about this is? That's it's only a quart, too. And there's some left. We don't drink much milk around here.

squeakyfish · April 2013

For milk...if it smelled and tasted fine, no problem. Even if it didn't, it just turns to yogurt which will not make you sick. (ok, it might make me hurl if I swallowed a chunk, but not because it was dangerous...just gross!)

"sell by" vs "use by" date

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