A small sip of spoiled milk is unlikely to cause symptoms beyond a bad taste. Drinking larger amounts of spoiled milk can cause stomach distress resulting in abdominal cramping, vomiting and diarrhea (like a food-borne illness). In most cases, symptoms caused by drinking spoiled milk resolve within 12-24 hours.
Your sense of smell and taste are your best friends here, and they'll give you the best indication of whether the milk is ok to drink – if it doesn't smell, look strange (lumpy or separated), and it tastes just fine, then you're okay to drink it.
But as long as milk has been properly refrigerated, it should be still drinkable up to a week past the date label — and maybe up to two weeks, depending on the temperature of your refrigerator. Generally, as long as the milk smells and looks OK, it's probably still safe to consume.
Milk can be refrigerated seven days; buttermilk, about two weeks. Milk or buttermilk may be frozen for about three months. Sour cream is safe in the refrigerator about one to three weeks but doesn't freeze well. For more information, you may call the FDA toll-free at 888-723-3366 or go to FDA's website.
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”.
If it does smell or taste sour, then it indicates the presence of rancid fats and chemical oxidation. Try changing your diet to eliminate the problem. If it smells fine and tastes a bit sweet, put it in the refrigerator.
The milk has a foul odor
If your milk doesn't smell like milk, it's likely expired. Milk that's gone bad exudes a foul odor — and it will be very obvious upon taking a whiff.
Typically, milk does not have much odor, so a noticeable odor may indicate the need to investigate the reason for this change.
Dust, dirt and manure can cause an unclean flavor of milk. Cows and their surroundings must be kept clean. Milking equipment that has not been properly cleaned and sanitized may be a factor. Washing a cow's udder with water and failing to dry them is one of the primary causes of unclean flavors.
According to the US Department of Agriculture, milk and other dairy products should be kept in the refrigerator at or, ideally, below 40°F. If the temperature gets higher than that, bacteria can start to grow in the milk, which is what causes the rotting and the smell.
While some believe that milk will stay fresh as long as it is consumed before its 'use by' date, it is actually best to store fresh milk in the refrigerator at 4°C and consume it within three days after opening.
After opening, most milk manufacturers recommend drinking the milk at or within 7 days. This assumes the milk didn't have any bacterial contamination after opening and is stored in temperatures of below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
(So be sure to store your milk properly) That bacteria starts to eats the sugar (lactose) in the milk and produces something called lactic acid. This acid causes the protein to clump together. Separation occurs between the curdled milk (the lumpy proteins) and the other liquid that's called whey.
But why exactly does bad milk smell bad? It all comes down to bacteria. As milk gets older, the bacteria inside the milk begins to multiply and break down the lactose. The offensive odor is a side effect of this chemical breakdown.
Regardless of any dates on the container, the milk may have been stored at a higher temperature than it should have been. And 2. It may have picked up odours from other foods in storage (fish, onions, garlic, salami, etc.).
You can actually cook with it? Actually, cooking with sour milk is delicious. It's a substitute for buttermilk. You can [use it] in pancake or biscuit batter.
Milk can often be consumed after its expiration date, generally for up to three days for opened milk and up to seven days for unopened milk. Before consuming, it's best to look for signs of spoilage. You can tell if milk is bad by checking the smell, color, consistency and taste.
Next time you hit the market, look closely to see if any of the milk cartons are puffy. The "walls" of a carton should be straight-sided. They should not be even a tiny bit inflated. A puffy carton is a sign of microbiological growth inside the container, probably resulting from temperature abuse.
The longer milk is exposed to the heat of a kitchen, the faster bacteria will grow. Help your milk last longer by storing it at the back of the fridge on a shelf near the middle or bottom. Hot air rises, so upper shelves may be a few degrees warmer than lower ones.
Besides the unpleasant taste and smell, spoiled milk can cause nausea, stomach cramps, or diarrhea. If you use spoiled milk for baking, the oven heat destroys most of the harmful bacteria so there is less of a chance that you will get sick from it.