How to tell if milk is off as M&S ditch use-by dates – 6 signs

The supermarket says it hopes the changes will help to reduce the almost half a billion pints wasted in the UK each year.

This follows similar moves by Morrisons, which has also removed use-by dates on milk, and Co-Op, which has done the same with yoghurt.

Instead of looking at use-by dates, customers are being encouraged to instead do the ‘sniff test’ to check it their milk is off.

So how do you check? Let’s find out.

How to tell if milk is off?

The sniff test

The best way to check whether milk is off is to do the ‘sniff test’.

Simply open the carton, hold it up to your nose and give it a big whiff.

Fresh milk won’t have much of a smell at all, whereas off-milk will immediately make you recoil, as it has an extremely unpleasant odour.

If your milk smells pungent, throw it away immediately.

Check for lumps

Fresh milk is very smooth in consistency, but if you notice yours has lumps and chunks in it, this means your milk has gone bad.

You might have to slosh your milk around in the container to check for lumps, as they can settle at the bottom.

If you spot a solid residue on the inside of your milk carton, this could also indicate it’s gone bad.

Inspect the colour

If your milk is bad, it may look a yellow or dingy colour, rather than pure white.

If you have trouble identifying the colour, you can hold a white piece of paper up to the glass to compare.

Check whether it has been left out at room temperature

Regardless of how old milk is, it can go bad if it’s left out of the fridge for more than one hour.

If you see milk that’s left on the side, ask around to find out how long it has been sitting there before using it.

Microwave the milk

If you’ve done all of the above and still can’t tell if your milk is bad, put a bit of it in the microwave for 30 seconds.

The, swirl the milk to see if it has thickened.

If it has gone thick and lumpy then that is a sign that the milk has gone bad.