MILK - what is up with it lately?

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sugarandspicey, Sep 5, 5:13am
Last Friday had to tip the whole new plastic 1L bottle of Home Brand Standard milk down the drain - newly opened up and it was off, the best before date was 5th Sept (that's today!) and now we have just had to tip the replacement milk Pams 1L standard milk down the drain and it has a best before date of 9th Sept! me thinks some idiot is at the controls in the milk factory. Hubby has just gone to get a new one so he can have a cup of tea, looking forward to seeing it's best before date and finding out how much prior to that date it goes off. Yep it is kept in the fridge at our house but prior to that I am beginning to wonder.Also both bottles purchased from different outlets and different brands so can't be the shops that are the problem.

korbo, Sep 5, 5:22am
how did you know, was it by taste or smell.
I know that at certain times of the year, butter can taste funny, something to do with the cows.
I would have taken it back to the shop.

ange164, Sep 5, 5:22am
look to the milk man leaving the door on his delivery truck open too much and letting the sunlight at it. When our local countdown had a run of this, people were taking milk back and asking for replacement. They had a stern word with their delivery man and things improved from there.

firemansgirl, Sep 5, 5:31am
Yes, or. worse is if the supermarkets/stores in question don't get it al offloaded from the pallet/ rack and into the fridge before it starts to warm up. My local used to have this problem. Now they unload under a covered area, with a chap doing just that.

grandma, Sep 5, 5:35am
I've taken to using milk powder (skim) and I can't tell the difference from "normal' milk - I'm a fussy milk taster too. It's cheaper and easy to make up so there is always milk on hand.

245sam, Sep 5, 6:02am
sugarandspicey, my question too - "how did you know, was it by taste or smell"!
Remember that it is now spring and at this time of the year the milk can get what we always called a "feedy" taste and smell - my understanding is that is because of the lush spring growth of the feed that the cows have access to.While it is a taste and smell that I absolutely dislike, it does not mean that the milk is off - it is most probably THE reason though that I cannot drink or eat plain milk at any time.

I so agree with korbo i.e. IMO you should have returned the "off" milk to its point of sale so that the retailer could investigate why his/her stocks were not as fresh as they should be (if indeed that was the case) - simply discarding the milk has denied the retailer that opportunity as well as denied him/her the chance to re-supply you with the fresh product you expected to have purchased.:-))

Edited to add that occasionally that "feedy" taste is very strong - in fact so strong that I have even detected it in icecream; however I must stress though that not everyone finds that seasonal taste and smell distasteful e.g. very often when I object to that smell/taste and simply cannot drink it, even if flavoured, my DH will happily consume the milk as normal, both in his tea and coffee and with cereal, and we were both brought up with there being a house cow in the paddock adjoining our homes.:-))

willyow, Sep 5, 6:26am
As you live in a small town - all the milk is probably handled by one contractor - maybe his or whove delivers it to Geraldine has handling practices that need a check-up! This doesn't happen unlessthe milk is
left out of refrigeration too long

sugarandspicey, Sep 5, 7:04am
Smell, and when Hubby opened the new one to pour into his tea a lump of goop came out. I was still in bed at the time and he promptly marched through with the bottle and shoved it under my nose to smell - Yep it was definately off and when he poured it down the sink it had remnants at the bottom of the plastic bottom like yoghurt was forming. Todays one he poured into his tea and it had lots of little floaty blobs of milk and when I had that shoved under my nose once again you could tell that it was off. I don't drink milk at all, I used to so I sure know the smell of off milk. Will tell him to STOP pouring the off milk down the sink and I will keep returning it to the retailer it came from so they can try and sort it out. So far so good with the one he bought tonight.

southerngurl, Sep 5, 7:44am
have you also checked your fridge! we couldn't figure out why we were going through milk in 24 hours. realised the fridge wasnt being sealed properly when shut

sugarandspicey, Sep 5, 7:55am
Yep fridge is all good, so are the seals as it is a fairly new fridge.

angel404, Sep 5, 8:20am
I buy my milk fresh from the farm gate - least I know how old it is! But in saying that ive never had those issues with store-bought milk in the past - your retailers are obviously having issues and you need to alert them to it.

village.green, Sep 5, 9:04am
Same here - raw from the (farm's) fridge on the day it was milked from cow. Can't say I've ever had a problem with store bought milk either.
I would've taken it back to shop if I still had receipt and it wasn't too far away.

annie.nz, Sep 6, 1:37am
At this time of year it's usually winter feed, some of it can make the milk taste quite strange.Our milk and butter both taste a bit that way at the moment.

Once the spring grass has sprung it will improve.

sarahb5, Sep 6, 1:55am
I definitely wouldn't be pouring it away - I'd be keeping all my receipts for milk until I'd opened the bottle and if it was off I'd be taking it back to the supermarket for a refund and/or replacement.If you don't tell them what's wrong how are they going to be able to fix it!

garfeild101, Sep 6, 10:53pm
yep my milk goes kinda lumpy and/or off about a week b4 its exp date, now im buying just 1L and i still get the prob but im saving money by not wasting it on big bottles

sarahb5, Sep 6, 11:19pm
So those of you that are having your milk go off before the BBE date, do you just put up with it or do you take it back to the store!Like I said above, if you don't tell them there's a problem how can they put it right.

dibble35, Sep 7, 5:26am
Is your fridge cold enough! Shouldnt go off that fast. At work the only fridge available is set quite warm as it has seeds stored in it and they cant go below a certain temp. I found any milk stored in there was starting to smell funny the 2nd day, so could be due to this

lcscott, Sep 7, 6:59am
you have to remember too these cows have just all calved too

dgriffnz, Sep 8, 3:17am
We have always frozen our milk; buy two and freeze one. But for the past few weeks after the frozen bottle has defrosted, the milk is "splitting", especially when poured into a tea or coffee. Have never had any issues until lately.anyone else finding the same. Milk is budget stuff from P&S.

clawed2, Sep 8, 5:32am
Heard you shouldn't store milk in the fridge door

dibble35, Sep 8, 6:19am
used to find it would go off quicker with our old fridge.(seals were pretty bad) when it was in the door but new fridge dont have this problem

kevymtnz, Sep 8, 6:22am
i throw milk after 3 days from buying it
i will never even think of holding milk for the due date let alone 4-5days

djtutty, Sep 8, 6:58am
i still drink our milk 4 or 5 days after the date quite regularly. just give it the old sniff test first

sarahb5, Sep 8, 8:19am
What a waste - wouldn't it make better sense to buy less or just buy milk powder and make it up as you need it!

buzzy110, Sep 8, 8:23am
You have been the voice of reason on this thread. All of your comments have shown sound commonsense and logic.