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Home > Milk Means More Blog > Keeping Your Dairy Foods Safe: What You Need to Know

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07/30/2015

Keeping Your Dairy Foods Safe: What You Need to Know

Lois McBean, MS, RDN  |  4 Comments  |  Food Safety, Shopping Tips

Keeping Dairy Foods Safe | Milk Means More blogThe hot days of summer bring questions about how to keep perishable dairy foods safe. Many stakeholders work together to help ensure the safety and quality of dairy foods, making milk and milk products some of the safest and highest quality foods in the U.S. By becoming educated on how to buy, transport, and store milk and milk products, you can help extend food safety precautions taken by government, dairy farmers, dairy processors, transporters, and retailers. The following are tips to help maintain the quality and safety of dairy foods. To avoid foodborne illness and dairy food waste, it’s important to think about dairy food safety at each step, from buying and transporting to storing.

Buying milk and dairy foods:

  • Place milk and milk products in your cart just before checking out of the grocery store, especially in hot weather.
  • Check the “sell by” date, “use by” date, or “best if used by (before)” date for the best quality. Don’t buy milk or other dairy foods if you can’t use them before the “use by” date. For information about food product dates, refer to the blog, “Food Product Dates: Clearing Up the Confusion.”
  • Choose milk in cardboard cartons or non-translucent jugs. Translucent containers allow light in that can cause milk to spoil more easily and more quickly.

Transporting dairy foods:

  • Take dairy foods straight home from the store and immediately put them in the refrigerator or freezer. In the summer, use insulated bags to transport dairy foods home in the car or pack frozen food around dairy foods for even better insulation and less cooling of both. If left in a hot car, some perishable foods may only remain safe for 30 minutes. Never leave perishable foods such as milk out of the refrigerator for more than two hours, depending on the outside temperature.

 Storing and using dairy foods at home:

  • Refrigerate milk and milk products (yogurt, cheese) at 40º F or below as soon as possible after purchase. Store milk in its original container. Immediately store ice cream and other dairy foods that can be frozen in the freezer set at 0º F or below.
  • Never store milk in the refrigerator door where it is susceptible to warmer temperatures from opening and closing the door.
  • Return milk to the refrigerator immediately after use. Unused milk poured out of its container should never be returned to its original container.
  • Keep milk containers closed to prevent the absorption of other flavors. Although this could change the taste, the milk is still safe.

Dairy-good-Newsletter-FINAL

Knowing how long dairy foods can be stored helps keep you and the others who consume dairy foods healthy. Many consumers ask how long refrigerated or frozen dairy foods can be stored. Below are guidelines for storing dairy foods to help maintain their quality and safety, excerpted from the Food Marketing Institute’s The Food Keeper.

 

DAIRY PRODUCT

REFRIGERATED

(below 40º F)

FROZEN

(at or below 0º F)

Milk, plain or flavored1 week3 months
Buttermilk1–2 weeks3 months
Cheese, hard (Cheddar, Swiss)6 months unopened;3–4 weeks opened6 months
Cheese, processed slices3–4 weeksDoes not freeze well
Cheese, shredded (Cheddar, etc.)1 month3–4 months
Cheese, soft (Brie)1–2 weeks6 months
Cottage cheese, ricotta2 weeks unopened;1 week openedDoes not freeze well
Cream, half & half3–4 days4 months
Cream, whipping, ultrapasteurized1 month unopened;1 week openedDo not freeze
Sour cream7–21 days (follow date on package)Does not freeze well
Yogurt7–14 days1–2 months
Ice cream2–4 months

 

You can play a critical role in helping to maintain the quality and safety of milk and milk products by keeping these perishable foods at proper temperatures and by following recommended handling practices. For information about home food safety in general, visit www.homefoodsafety.org.

Lois McBean, MS, RDN
About the author

Lois McBean, MS, RDN, is Technical Advisor for Nutrition for the United Dairy Industry of Michigan, Dairy Council of Michigan. Among her roles in this position, Lois monitors and critically evaluates nutrition research as it relates to the health benefits of dairy foods, writes and edits nutrition articles and educational materials, and responds to requests for technical information from a variety of audiences.

Comments (4)
  • Sherlin says:
    Aug 18, 2015

    I did not notice that before I saw this article, really helpful. I should pay more attention to my daily diet. And I used to make the sour cream freezed. What a big mistake!

    Reply
  • Jay says:
    Jun 8, 2018

    Thanks for that tip about not mixing new and old milk. I have seen whole cartons go bad before because someone did that! Storing and transporting temperature sensitive food is no joke. Make sure that things like milk are transported correctly!

    Reply
  • Marie Ahlen says:
    Apr 30, 2020

    Once a milk carton is opened, does it then have a shorter life, sooner than the best-by date. E.g., milk opened 16 times in 7 to 8 days before it’s empty. Should I get smaller containers to avoid this and to avoid GI symptoms noticed on day 8?

    Reply
    • Sarah Woodside says:
      May 7, 2020

      Hi Marie,
      Once milk is opened it is generally still good for 2-4 days past the best-by-date. The number of times it is opened shouldn’t affect its shelf life. Storing it on an interior shelf of the refrigerator will help, as will buying smaller cartons if you don’t typically finish a larger carton quickly.

      Sarah

      Reply

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