"why does the organic milk i just bought have a "sell by" date of march
25th? if anything, i would have thought that things without weird
chemicals in them would have gone bad faster."
and i responded pretty much like: "i don't know. i've noticed that one too. i'll do a little digging to see what i can find."
so, sean and others, here's what i've found.
there's no straight answer, (when is there ever, right?) not even with organic (sigh). apparently, sean, we're not the only ones to notice this. when i googled "organic milk expiration date" a lot of good hits came up. there's all ends of the spectrum in this debate, ranging from these guys, who make some valid points but are a little too pro-business/conspiracy thinking for my palate, to this group of concerned parents, who explain that it's because organic milk is ultra-pasteurized (see the link to know more about what that means), which removes the microorganisms and spores that cause spoilage.
i just got up to see what brand of organic milk i bought this week (i vary depending on where i shop). i have organic valley, which is certainly one of the larger businesses selling organic foods. the expiration date is march 17th and it looks like the milk was shipped out of wisconsin, though i can't quite tell because it says on the box that it's processed and packaged at a plant stamped above but i think that info is in code.
this raises an important point, of which i am constantly amazed that i have to remind my nieve self--buyer beware (even with organic). even though you think you’re doing good by buying organic, sometimes you could still do better. i think the pro-business guys are right that you should really pay attention to where in the US your dairy products (and all products) are being shipped from because we all know that local is better in so many ways (and there’s no argument against that!).
so thanks, sean, for asking the question and forcing me to do some research. when i go to rosewood this weekend i’ll be sure to pick up all the milk boxes and take a closer look.
1 comment:
For anyone interested, "organic" food regulations are getting less strict. There is much controversy about this topic because so many organic companies are being taken over by large corporations. Check out http://www.organicconsumers.org/
for some of those listings. Large corporations means lots of lobbying power which indeed affects what labels are used on products!In a perfect world, every community would have plentiful dairy cows, farms full of fruits and veggies, and all of which were not treated with hormones, chemicals, and other non-natural things. Since we don't live in that world, the only thing we can do is to continue to educate ourselves. Yeah food!
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