Does UHT milk go off bad?

simmed

It has a "best before" date which is usually 4 or so months after purchase.

But no "use by" date.

Anyone know?

tessasmum

I think "use by" is only for fresh stuff. We use UHT milk all the time and just treat it as fresh once it is open.

If you are asking whether you can keep the cartons long past the "best before" date, then I would have thought so; just see what it is like once it is opened and decide whether to use it then. I wouldn't routinely buy more than I thought we would use in the time it has on the date, if you see what I mean. We usually have about 15 cartons in stock, and that is fine for rotated stock, so it gets used before the date on the carton.

Popperwell

I have seen UHT and fresh milk(well when I say fresh)I mean milk like Tesco pure/cravendale, last days out of a fridge and still be ok.

That could be because my house is often so b***** cold through avoiding putting the heating on(lets say it is ok for tea/coffee etc...)If I wanted it to go on cereal, I'd put it in the fridge as I like really cold milk.

Another trick we used to do when in a hotel and I have done at home is to stand a carton in a sink of cold water but haven't needed to lately. That has worked many a time with ordinary fresh milk.

This is because I spend such a lot of time upstairs and having a kettle here I would get tired of keep going up and downstairs to the fridge for milk.

Shropshirelass

I have had opened carton of UHT milk go off after being left in fridge while we were away for the week. Never had un-opened carton go off, but we do use them up regularly. You could see/smell that there was something wrong - apart from sour smell, milk had separated into watery stuff and solids. Yuccc!

frosty

Hi,we are using up cartons dated January 2010 and they are fine,just treat as fresh milk when opened.