Sweets

Bogey · Post by **Bogey** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 3:54 pm

The use by dates are not that accurate. For most foods it's the same. Occassionaly you can get some milk which goes bad before it's use by date despite keeping it cold.

Post by **Melana** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 12:09 am

How dodgy....i'll keep that in mind if I ever go to the UK for milk.

There isn't much of a difference between the UHT milk and normal milk James. That stuff has a shelf life of like a year...unrefridgarated.

But then I'm one of those annoying people that reaches in the back of the fridge to the milk with the longest expirery date.

Bogey · Post by **Bogey** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 12:29 am

I wouldn't have thought it was just the UK that was like it. It's not like it's a common occurance. Surely everyone here at some point in their life has had a loaf of bread which has started to go mouldy before the date, for example. Unless I'm particularly unlucky.

I've worked in several food preperation areas, and it seems to me that no matter how strict you are on food hygiene etc, there is always that human error.

kaos · Post by **kaos** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 12:31 am

Bogey wrote:Occassionaly you can get some milk which goes bad before it's use by date despite keeping it cold.

Thats my chocolate milk mishap.

Evil Matt · Post by **Evil Matt** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 2:06 am

Here in the good old US of A we don't have UHT milk. When I visited Germany I was shocked when I saw milk stored on the pantry shelf. I'm convinced it's conscious decision on the part of the dairy industry to keep us in the dark about it's existence, so we'll continue buying more milk to replace what spoils in our refrigerators.

Post by **Melana** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 1:37 pm

Bread is a totally different kettle of fish though.

Milk is pasteurised such that the levels of bacteria are at acceptible standards. A decent set of legistlation by the dairy board should mean that your milk is tested for those bacteria levels and has a use by date that is proper. People get employed to do these sort of checks.

I suppose a bad batch could happen....but to be honest it's more likely (to me at least) that whilst sitting at the supermarket or whatever the milk was sitting out... maybe a customer didn't want it....got left somewhere odd and not refridgerated.

I know I seem to be concerned with the milk...but well.... we did a whole section on Dairy @ uni... so it just disturbs me.

UHT is fantastic.

On the bread.... your talking about a product that has live yeast in it.... whilst most of the live fungi is killed in the baking process you still have the yeast spores that will germinate after baking. Especially if given optimum conditions. ie left out on a counter top...maybe some sunlight/warmth. It's always a given that bread will get mouldy yes? Especially when it's touched by hands (Even clean ones carry some traces of fungi and bacteria). Yes it's screwy that it goes mouldy before useby date.... but it's also exposed to a set of more optimal situations for growth.

....brought to you by geeky lesley

Super Goat Weed · Post by **Super Goat Weed** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 1:40 pm

....

that was hot

Post by **Melana** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 2:22 pm

ARGH now you people have me looking up dairy websites....

Super Goat Weed · Post by **Super Goat Weed** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 2:25 pm

and by 'you people' she means me

Post by **Melana** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 2:59 pm

well it sure beats the platyhelminthes

Bogey · Post by **Bogey** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 7:03 pm

Melana wrote:but to be honest it's more likely (to me at least) that whilst sitting at the supermarket or whatever the milk was sitting out... maybe a customer didn't want it....got left somewhere odd and not refridgerated.

That's my whole point. That happens before the customer receives it. All my point was that use by dates are impossible to keep 100% accurate.

EDIT: Typical bloody woman, making an argument out of everything I say and do.

*takes cover*

nakodai · Post by **nakodai** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 10:28 pm

i did a report on platyhelminthes for biology once in the ninth grade... *pause* ah yes. worms. o_0;; MMM.

well, everything spoils a little differently, even cartons of milk... the use by date is more of a ballpark, since some milk is still good after, and some is bad before, given certain circumstances. *shrug* you really can't be one-hundred percent sure about it ALL the time.

hmm. *goes off to have a bowl of cereal with vanilla soy milk*

Evil Matt · Post by **Evil Matt** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 11:27 pm

Soy milk is all I buy now, simply because I rarely finish a carton of dairy milk before it spoils.

nakodai · Post by **nakodai** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 1:37 am

i heart soy milk.

... and tom collins mix.

OH JESUS.

Post by **Melana** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 12:36 pm

My point was that it wasn't the dairy industries fault that some silly customer left the milk out. You can't factor in things like that.

But it doesn't really matter Joe. It's just milk