Grocery Chain: Use the Sniff Test on Milk

UK's Morrisons does away with expiration dates to cut down on waste
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 10, 2022 11:35 AM CST
Grocery Chain: Use the Sniff Test on Milk
   (Getty/Burke/Triolo Productions)

Maybe it's the start of a shift in labeling? A UK grocery chain is doing away with "use by" expiration dates for its milk, reports the BBC. Instead, Morrisons is encouraging people to use the good-old sniff test to make sure the stuff hasn't gone bad. The idea is to cut down on the amount of perfectly fine milk that gets poured down the drain because the date has come and gone. Milk sold at Morrisons supermarkets will still have a date on it, but the wording has been tweaked to say the milk would merely be "best before" the date, per the Guardian.

"We're taking a bold step today and asking customers to decide whether their milk is still good to drink," says the chain's Ian Goode. "Generations before us have always used the sniff test—and I believe we can, too." Morrisons is the UK fourth largest grocery chain. Generally speaking, milk is thought to be to safe to drink two to five days past the stamped date, per Medical News Today. However, the particulars vary—the type of milk, level of pasteurization, how long it's been left on the counter, etc. Hence, the sniff test. (More milk stories.)

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