Should Iowans Start Sniffing Their Milk More?

I don’t know about you but when it comes to picking out my milk at the grocery store, the first place I look is the “use by” label. Well, according to an article in the Treehugger, pretty soon people in Britain won’t be able to do that.

The major supermarket chain Morrisons will be eliminating the “use by” date on 90 percent of milk sold in their stores by the end of January.

You May Be Asking Why

This is all part of an effort to reduce unnecessary milk waste that is caused by misunderstandings around expiration dates. This excess waste ends up as unnecessary carbon in the atmosphere on top of being a waste of resources that went into raising the cow.

In the UK alone, 330,000 tons of milk are wasted a year—that’s 7 percent of the country’s national production. Most of this waste happens in the home. According to the Guardian, milk is the third most wasted food item, behind potatoes and bread.

Back in the US

A study was done by Ohio State researchers back in 2018 that pointed to that “best by” date being a significant factor in food waste.

In the study, researchers asked 88 consumers to sniff half gallons of milk that were 15, 25, 30 and 40 days past the expiration date- only some of the samples were dated

The study found that 64 percent of respondents said they would throw the milk out that had a date label, and only 45.8 percent of them would throw the same milk out If they didn’t know the date of the label.