Help us reduce waste in the home and stop millions of pints of milk being thrown away unnecessarily every year. Keep reading for more on the sniff test and how you can make it part of your routine to help play your part.

What's happening?

From the 31st January 2022, we'll be scrapping ‘Use By’ dates on 90% of our own brand milk and encouraging you to use a simple sniff test to help to reduce food waste in the home.

Our own brand milk packaging will still include a 'Best Before' date, so you know when to drink it by to get the best taste. We're encouraging our customers to use a simple sniff test at home to check if their milk is good enough to consume after the 'Best Before' date. Unlike some other fresh products, drinking Morrisons milk after a ‘Best Before’ date is not a food safety issue.

If you have a smell or taste disorder, please continue to use the 'Best Before' date, which has the same duration as the 'Use By' date previously found on the bottle. 

 

Why?

Milk is the third most wasted food and drink product in the UK, after potatoes and bread, with around 490 million pints wasted every year. And milk has the largest carbon footprint of these products because its production is so resource-intensive. One litre of milk can account for up to a whopping 4.5kg of CO2!

Ian Goode, Senior Milk Buyer at Morrisons, said:

“Wasted milk means wasted effort by our farmers and unnecessary carbon being released into the atmosphere. Good quality well-kept milk has a good few days life after normal ‘Use By’ dates - and we think it should be consumed not tipped down the sink. So we’re taking a bold step today and asking customers to decide whether their milk is still good to drink. Generations before us have always used the sniff test - and I believe we can too.”

How to do a milk sniff test

  • Look at your milk - if you can see that it has curdled then it is not right
  • Hold the milk bottle to your nose - if it smells sour then it may have spoiled
  • If you can't use the sniff test, use ‘Best Before’ date, which has the same duration as 'Use By' date and dispose of the milk once this date has passed


How to make your milk last longer

  • Use a cool bag when bringing milk back from the supermarket
  • Refrigerate your milk as soon as you get your shopping home
  • Maintain your fridge at between 1- 4 °C
  • Never drink from your milk bottle
  • Close your milk bottle immediately after use
  • Store in the main section of your fridge rather than the fridge door
  • Don't leave your milk out of the fridge

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