Gone bad by 'use by' date - dairy products

I have related this tale before and I am going to make this little number informative as well as bitching about food products that go off BEFORE the 'use by' or 'best before' date. One notorious product or brand that I have stayed away from is 'PAULS'. In particular, their milk range. God only knows what they put in their products but as you will read, any dairy product will lose half its life with a little corruption in the chain.

When you live in a cold climate, or at that time of the year that freezes your buns off going to the store, you can bet there is hardly a hic-up in the chain of product deliveries that will knock half the life of dairy products - it's just too damn cold OUTSIDE. So in the days of the milko leaving milk on the front door step, it was either ice cold or frozen when you opened the door at 6am. Those days are gone but there is something you should know that has been going on for over 20 years [ that's right - 20 bloody years ] that is both blatantly illegal and a danger to your health.

A friend of mine [ a Milko for 20 years ] tells it like so. Delivery times are tight and the quicker you can get the milk from the bulk depot to the retailer, the better [ sounds fair enough ]. With refrigerated trucks of all sizes up to semi trailers, you can guarentee that the milk product will arrive at the retailer as cold as it left the factory [ Ummm sounds ok so far ]. HOWEVER, in order to save a sh*t load of time and agro AT the bulk depot, some one is there who will inevitably take the milk from the depot cold store and move it to the loading DOCK!. And there it sits till the truck arrives, getting warmer and warmer - the life of the product getting shorter and shorter by the minute. When the trucks deliver it to the retailer [ woolies, coles - the corner store ] it is NOW back to cold level but with half the shelf life knocked off it. Small delivery trucks might have their mates be at the store first to do all the work; who wants to spend half an hour of precious delivery time taking it straight from the cold store directly into the truck which has already arrived ?. I mention PAULS products because for some unbeknown'st reason, every paul's milk I have bought in the last 6 years [ 3 liter plastic cartons ] including funny brands processed by paul's, has gone totally off BEFORE the use by date. They should put in a revolving door with my name on it at woolies because if it goes off before the use by date, back it goes for another one - and another one [ hell - have I paid for any woolies milk at all lately ? damn, can't remember ].

Despite a plethora of authorities being informed of this practice for 6 years now, no-one has apparently done anything.
It made front page headlines in another city when authorities discovered the method and the company concerned was fined heaps, and that's 20 years ago!!. Old habits die hard, I guess. In any event, PAUL'S milk tastes funny to start with. There is a method of detecting the shelf life of milk.

When you buy your milk, use it as you will but leave about 200 MLS left and don't use it. About 2 days BEFORE the use by date [ if it lasts that long at your place ] put half of whats left in a mug [ with some instant coffee if you like ] and make yourself a 'cafe latte' by micro waving the mug of milk until it just starts to boil. Now take a sip. If it tastes like crap, it's off even though it may taste OK when cold. Take what's left [ 100 ML ] back where you bought it and tell them the shelf life was reduced when you bought it - by policy, you are certain to get a new full carton of milk. If some smart arse smells your left over COLD milk and sez it's OK, tell them to make a latte out of it while you wait. In all the milk returns I have made, I have not been challenged because its a customer satisfaction policy. After a while, maybe the message will sink in, but don't hold your breath. At least you will never have to pay for crappy milk again.

Now some bright sparks may think it clever to deliberately let the 200MLS of milk left go off by leaving it in the sun for a day and THEN take it back stone cold but totally off. I don't condone that sort of bullsh*t, I just want what I paid for.