Online debate about use-by date on milk sparks divide

A photo of supermarket milk on Facebook has sparked a furious debate — with people being labelled “princesses” for not doing this one habit.

When it comes to this habit, chances are you either fall into the “hell yes” or “hell no” category — and you’re not afraid to share your opinion on it either.

A Facebook post about drinking milk after its use-by date has sparked a massive debate online, with some commenters blasting the “sick” habit while others admitted to drinking milk as long as week past the use-by date.

Posting in the Markdown Addicts Facebook group, one member posted a photo of her out of date milk, writing in the caption that it had still been “fine” for her and her three children to drink.

“Just wanted to share because I know some people are funny with using MILK after expiry.

This is two days over and it is still fine,” she wrote.

“Just because it’s marked down it doesn’t mean you have to consume on that day. Fyi this wasn’t a markdown but simply didn’t get used quick enough and not one of my 3 kids or ourselves have been sick.”

RELATED: Rick Stein spills secret to top notch barbecue cooking

This photo sparked a massive debate on when was the best time to throw out milk.

The post soon attracted almost 400 comments, with many people admitting to using milk past the use-by date as it was “wasteful” not to, labelling those who didn’t “princesses”.

“Never understood people who throw stuff away as soon as it hits the use by date without smelling/tasting it first. Such a waste! Most of the time it’s still totally fine for quite a while,” one person wrote.

“Sometimes we don’t open a bottle until the day on the bottle. It lasts for days after. Just smell it. Silly to throw away good milk,” another commented.

“My last two litre milk was expired a week ago. I always sniff it and taste it before using. It was fine to the last drop,” another wrote.

Beside doing a “sniff test” others said they would heat their past use-by date milk or put it in cups of tea to check if it was still good to consume. If it curdled, they would throw it out.

RELATED: The best Australian beers ranked

Some said they always drank milk past its use-by date. Picture: Peter Hemphill.

But despite plenty of people admitting to drinking expired milk, other commenters were horrified.

“I don’t know how anyone can consume it yuck,” one comment read.

“Please ignore this advice especially if you have kids. Supermarket fridges have variable temps not like home fridges. Don’t give milk past its used by date to children they can potentially get very sick,” one wrote.

“I’d throw up if I had milk like that. I always have,” another user commented, while another added: “Wtf this is what gastro and projectile vomiting is caused from.”

According to Food Standards Australia, food marked with a use-by date — such as milk and other dairy products — should not be consumed and can’t legally be sold once the date has expired.

However food that has a best before date can still be eaten for some time after that date but “may have lost some quality”.