That’s how much money is wasted every year by discarding perfectly good milk. That’s 34 pounds of safe-to-drink milk per person. And mostly because of the carton’s confusing date label, which isn’t even regulated by law. We look at it as an expiration date, when it’s really just the date the manufacturer thinks the milk is at its highest quality (tastes best).
Milk is the most wasted food in the U.S.–by weight, 12% of all food products wasted.
There is an easy fix. Ignore the date and let your eyes and nose be the judge of whether the milk is still safe to drink. You’ll see a color or texture change, and your nose certainly knows. If you take a swig and it’s sour, remember that experts tell us that drinking sour milk won’t make us sick. But the land and water it takes to produce that much lost milk does take a toll on our Earth.