We use Walmart milk but I notice the freshness dates vary widely by store location. Unfortunately our closest one always has poor dates. Since Walmart has stated the milk is hormone free, I am surprised at the long expire dates. I think the milk I bought on Thursday expires Dec 19.
No. Milk shelf life mostly a function of how it is pasteurized. UHT(ultra high temp) will last longer. More likely to see it used for creams than milk in the US. Parmalat and Costco's organic milk use UHT. Sealed UHT milk can be stored at room temp, but that weirds out US consumers. HT-ST(high temp, short) is how most milk is pasteurized in the US. Or it was, I haven't kept track of what the biz does. For completeness, LT-LT(low temp, long time) is the pasteurization method you can do on the stove top. It's a batch process that can take up to an hour. The others are continuous. Microfiltered milk might last longer than pasteurized. There are naturally occurring preservatives in milk that pasteurization destroys. It alone isn't allowed by US law.
I think the homogenisation affects shelf life, non homogenised doesn't last as long because there are all sorts of stuff that come out of the milk when sent through the high speed centrifuge that evenly mixes the cream through the milk. More moons ago than I care to remember, I worked at a milk processing and bottling factory where the tankers came in and dumped the milk into huge tanks and from there it went through the processing ...... cleaning out the centrifuge drum after a homogenisation batching required a strong stomach, but I always drank homogenised milk after that The lactose free process releases the milk sugars and makes it plenty sweet enough for my coffee, doesn't need sugar, we go through a lot of milk and the UHT cartoons last a lot longer than the 1 ltr cartons or plastic bottles, even though they are stored in the fridge (UHT lives in the cupboard until opened). We go through 2 ltr/day, but storing two x 1ltr cartons/bottles in the fridge for the following day risks the second days milk developing that turning smell and wrecks a good cup of coffee ..... can't handle the taste/texture of powered milk, so, no milk, no coffee and a rather unpleasant Terry to be around until that situation is rectified T1 Terry
