Bad Yogurt?

[ButterfliesInHerEyes]

Does yogurt go bad? If so, how do you know?

[ren2005]

First look at the expiration... I once had a yogurt and knew right away it was spoiled.
There was green mold growing on the top! EW! The yogurt should be fine if it is still BEFORE the expiration date and has been properly sealed (check that) and properly refrigerated.
But..I always say.. When in doubt.. throw it out!
;-)

[paulinek]

Yes it does go off, like ren2005 said check the use by date, if for some reason there isn't one on there then i wouldn't risk it and would bin it. I'm sure if it were off it would be like any other dairy and would smell pretty grim, but if you are worried before you've eaten it you'll only be ten times worse afterwards and it's just not worth it.

[ButterfliesInHerEyes]

Thanks! I always look at expiration dates... my question was more about if it ever really does go bad because it's fermented milk, isn't it?

[paulinek]

Not sure if it's fermented, i think it's milk with a type of bacteria in it that thickens it and gives that yoghurty taste. I've seen them do home made yoghurt on telly and they put a bit of the last batch of live yoghurt into the warm milk to make the next lot, so i'd imagine if it was left for too long it could definitely go bad.

[kellybeth]

OOOOO. Yogurt goes bad. And trust me when it does you know right away. I once tasted spoiled yogurt and it was horribly sour. So gross.

[Natiebear]

You can eat it up to 7 days past exp. date.

[Midnight Dream]

Yeah also you know when yogurt is off when the seal/lid has like risen up to form a dome kinda shape! Ew gone off yogurt! x

[ButterfliesInHerEyes]

The raised lid makes sense... and knowing that it smells and tastes REALLY bad when it's bad, is reassuring.

Some yogurts taste like sour milk when they're perfectly fine lol.

Thanks everybody!

[paulinek]

You can eat it up to 7 days past exp. date.

No you can't. The dates on dairy products are 'use by' which means just that, and is normally because they will be potenitally unsafe after that date based on the calculations of bacterial growth in the product and that they will have reached an unsafe level by that particular date.

Obviously they are only predictions and there are many variables as to how soon the product will go off based on how long it took to get it home from the shop and into the fridge and how cold your fridge is etc and i'm sure they do err on the side of caution, so the likelehood is that a day or so after you probably would be ok, after all it can't go from safe to dangerous just as the clock turns midnight lol but for an emetophobe i would never recommend eating anything after the use by date because it's just not worth the risk. Best before dates are different, the simply indicate that the product won't be as good a quality but is still safe (with the exception of eggs)

[Midnight Dream]

Yeah your right! Like Natural Yogurt that is quite bitter tasting but its fine too eat Just like normal yogurt, just not sweet but thick and bitter! I used to love it before my eating disorder with honey drizzled on the top! The sweetness of the honey compliments the bitterness of the natural yogurt Now I dont eat yogurt as I cant stand the feeling of it inside of me x

[ButterfliesInHerEyes]

Oh I love yogurt! I just make sure to buy the brands I know and love instead of what's on sale. Some brands of yogurt are yeck! If that's what it tastes like when it's good, what does it taste like when it's gone bad? haha

About best before / use by dates. When I was crazy-emetophobic I would throw things out DAYS before the date "just to be safe" but now that I'm recovered (except at the dentst!!!) I will use something BY the date but never over that. I figure if they put a date on it, it's for a reason. Sure, some things may be perfectly fine well beyond that date but why would I chance it? Even people who have never had emetophobia don't want to get food poisoning.

[krisdance83]

My mother is convinced that when she was sick last year, it was due to bad yogurt. She won't eat it anymore and she used to eat it every day. It was towards the end of February last year and she came down with what we thought was a horrible sv*, probably noro. She hadn't had one in YEARS. For some reason, just the other day, we were talking about it and she mentioned that she "still thinks" it was the yogurt that made her sick. She said it was a few days away from the expiration date still, but she had had it for a long time...she thought maybe it was mis-dated. I, like many of you, think that she would have known by the taste if it was in fact spoiled. But who knows... I think she probably had a virus but she is doing an emet type thing by not eating the last food she v*ed!! My dad never got sick though, and he took care of her the whole time. Like TOOK CARE of her when she was unable to stand in the bathroom...so he was exposed on an extreme level. Although he did say he felt "off" for a few days after... ?

[ButterfliesInHerEyes]

Who knows if it was the yogurt that made your mom sick or something completely unrelated. But it's common to develop an aversion to foods we vomit because we associate the food with being sick. Like what happened to each and every one of us at some time: We associated vomiting with extreme fear and that's why we're emetophobic. I hope that makes sense. lol

[KentuckyLivin']

No you can't. The dates on dairy products are 'use by' which means just that, and is normally because they will be potenitally unsafe after that date based on the calculations of bacterial growth in the product and that they will have reached an unsafe level by that particular date.

I just checked every yogurt we have in our fridge -- Yoplait (regular and Lite), Dannon drinkables and some store brand fruit on the bottom yogurts... and the dates every single one of them clearly states "Sell by."

"Sell by" date simply requires that this be the last date a store have the product on the shelves because after this time period it is expected the quality of the food will begin to decline.

We learned in our nutrition class in college and also in our food safety class for work that there are quite a few things that can last a while after sell by dates. Yogurt was 7-10 days... eggs were several weeks and mayo believe it or not, was up to a month if unopened.

We also learned what many people stated here... all of these things are pretty obvious when they go bad -- eggs smell horendous, yogurt grows mold and mayo has a sour rancid smell too.

If you open the yogurt a few days past the sell by date and it smells fine and looks fine... it's gonna be okay.

[ButterfliesInHerEyes]

The sell by or use by date isn't set in stone or a guarantee of anything. I have had things go bad (ie milk) well before the best before date. Who knows if it was kept at the proper temperature during all the steps from the cow to the store to my fridge, you know? And I've also had things well past their best before dates (milk again as an example) that was perfectly fine.

[KaydeeJayde]

I agree, most things are probably going to have a bad smell, or look bad to eat if they're unsafe. The other day, I had some lunch meat, and it was only three days after it had been bought, but I suspect my dad might have left it out on the counter overnight one night. Anyways, I opened it up and it was slimy and smelled really... just off. So I threw it away. But then again, my parents freeze a lot of food, especially milk, and we drink that weeks after the 'sell by' dates and there's no issue. I think it's intuition and appearance. If something looks, smells or tastes off, don't eat it. If it looks fine, smells fine and tastes fine, then chances are, it's fine.

[krisdance83]

kaydee - just curious why they freeze milk? i've never heard of that being done.

[Midnight Dream]

Yeah Im confused on the freezing milk thing? My mum said that its bad to freeze milk O_o x

[asianeko]

Doesn't milk separate when you freeze it?

[Midnight Dream]

Thats what I thought ^^ I mean doesn't the fat in the milk separate from the other liquids?! x

[KaydeeJayde]

Well, I think it's fine because we use low fat milk, but there's never been an issue. Once, I opened a bottle and it had separated a little, but once it was shaken and put in the fridge it was fine. I think Mum does it because she can buy it on special or whatever and keep it and it doesn't matter how many she has.

As for it being bad, I've never had an issue, and its never made any of my family ill, either, and she's been doing it for as long as I can remember. I've started drinking soy milk lately though, so I haven't tried freezing that.

[ButterfliesInHerEyes]

My mother-in-law always froze milk. I think they used 2%, not sure. It was always fine.

[Midnight Dream]

Interesting.

[DoonDoon]

I'm currently eating a smoothie made with yogurt that has a sell by date of December 24, 2010. The thing is, I left my apartment for an extended absence on December 16, and put it in the freezer. I defrosted it the day before yesterday, and I'll probably use it for another day or so before tossing any remainder. So, it's beyond date (by a lot) but it's still good to eat. I did notice that it gets a bit thin after being defrosted... but I don't care much as I blend it anyways.

[ButterfliesInHerEyes]

Yeah it's perfectly fine to eat if it's been frozen... but with yogurt, freezing kills off the active cultures that make yogurt good for your gut. That's the only thing.

[Rebecca85]

Just to clear sonething up between KentuckyLivin and paulineuk, one of you is from the USA and the other from the UK. The food laws are different!

In the UK, dairy has a 'display until' and a 'use by' date. The 'display until' is equivalent to the US 'sell by'. It is an instruction to the shop telling them how long the goods can be displayed for (so people don't buy something with only a day or two left to eat it).

The 'use by' date is different. This is a date (7-14 days later I guess) telling you when it is safe to eat the product. After this the food is potentially unsafe.

So both of you are correct!

[Rebecca85]

DoonDoon- freezing halts the 'going off' process. It doesn't kill bacteria, but puts them in suspended animation, so when it thaws the bacteria work again. That's why you shouldn't refreeze something that has thawed. And theoretically you should eat stuff that has thawed straightaway, but I figure if it's been frozen with a week left on the 'use by' then you have a day or two to eat it.

[Midnight Dream]

In my mind freezing milk or yogurt is just weird! x

[ButterfliesInHerEyes]

You've never had frozen yogurt? Like an ice cream?