Food Spoilage

Post Reply New Topic

I'm trying to make space in the fridge for my new groceries and I have some yogurt that says "use by Jan 17". Is it still good? Has anyone eaten dairy products after the exp date?

I have yogurt that says "use by Feb 20". I kept that. Is that ok?

And what about apple juice? I have two large jars of apple juice for when I can't eat. One is open and the other is closed. I can't find any exp dates. How long are they good?

I actually found out that pop expires too. I always wondered, what could go wrong with pop? But I had some I stored for 2 yrs and boy did it taste like crap!

I would throw anything away that remains in the fridge past the expiration date.

I thought people in Kansas called pop "soda" like we do in NYC.

I've always eaten yogurt without any problems up to 3 weeks after expiry date. And they're organic yogurts so I think "normal" ones can be kept even longer.
If you want to keep yogurt longer, store them in the coldest part of the fridge (2°C / 35F).

Yes, I've eaten/drunk dairy products after the best before date, but not more than a month after.

When I looked it up once I read that yogurt is usually good for 7 - 10 days after the best before date, as long as there is no mold on it and it doesn't taste or smell weird. I've eaten plain yogurt a couple of weeks past the best before date.

If it seems normal in taste/smell/appearance your "use by Feb 20" yogurt is probably fine, but I would toss the yogurt from Jan 17th.



I have never bought apple juice in a jar, so I'm not sure.

When I buy juice in plastic or glass bottles or tetra-packs it always says the juice should be consumed within a week or so of opening, and I imagine it would be the same for jars. I probably wouldn't drink opened juice it if it had been opened for more than a couple of weeks....but then I can't think of a time when I've had opened juice that I've drunk that slowly.

The closed one is probably fine, unless you bought it many years ago -- or if the seal on the lid is broken. (Or if it's supposed to be clear apple juice and its gone all cloudy....or if you open it up and it smells or tastes weird or is bubbly or anything else it shouldn't be.)

Why would organic dairy spoil faster than non-organic dairy?

I've read that apple juice is ok even when it starts to turn sour a bit though it might give you an upset stomach, so best not given to children.

Because cows in organic dairy farms live in an environment full of microbes, much more than other cows, and they aren't fed antibiotics. Organic food in general has been shown to have a higher quantity of bacteria.

No, Mr. K. That's just you.

Organic milk actually stays better longer - like 2-3 mos longer than regular milk. The pasteurization process that's used kills all the bacteria. I don't know why anyone would want to buy regular milk that spoils. Since I've started buying organic milk, I haven't had to get rid of any of it. Great money saver.

I know that, in St Louis, they call pop "soda."

All the organic dairy products I buy spoil before others. But I'm in Europe.

Even your milk? Our regular milk spoils in about a week here - maybe a little longer. The organic goes for 2-3 months! I still can't believe it. My sister-in-law now buys it too. I pay a little extra, but it comes in handy since I don't drink it very much. I also used to use powdered milk, which was also ok, that I got from Amazon, but it is now way too expensive.

Once open, I can keep organic milk about 10 days at most, but I had regular milk still smelling good after 3 weeks. That's for sterilized milk. I never managed to keep pasteurized milk more than 3 or 4 days, organic or not. Raw milk, only 2 days max, but I love it !

Do you live somewhere that they allow antibiotics in milk? In Canada, non-organic cows are not supposed to be milked while they are on antibiotics for infections, and non-organic milk is actually batch tested to enforce the regulations. (This is actually similar to the situation for organic cows in both the US and Canada; Organic diary cows can be given antibiotics for infections when other treatments have failed -- they just have to be removed from milking for a much longer period of time than non-organic cows....and I imagine that they receive far fewer courses of antibiotics generally, because they tend to be a lot healthier and because antibiotics are probably used more sparingly.)

At least in places where antibiotics are not allowed in any type of dairy, I would think that pasteurization + the addition of probiotics (which compete with non-probiotic bacteria) would even things out.

In Europe, cows are often fed antibiotics every day because they receive foods enriched with antibiotics, not for infections but to prevent infections. Farmers are paranoid, they want a sterile environment. Laws are supposed to punish that but in reality they're fed antibiotics every day, so you find traces everywhere in food.

Hmmmm....that makes me wonder how well the laws are enforced here.



I bet your milk is UHT pasteurized (ultra-high temperature).