How much fat in milk?

[Arch]

The alternative explanation is that the four quarters of the udder each give a different grade of milk and that the four teats are colour coded accordingly for  skim / semi / full fat / soya (the last requires a special soy-based cattle feed). To stop colour blind farmers mucking up the system the Ministry requires them to take colour blindness eye tests before they are licensed; if they fail the test they become beef farmers instead. Thus the map in the back of your school atlas showing dairy / beef / sheep / arable farm distribution is also a good indicator of the incidence of heriditary colour blindness in the UK - because famers don't move around the country as much as the rest of the population, their colour blindness incidences reflects the distribution of the Celtic tribes, Angles, Saxons, Jute and Viking invaders.

Brilliant. That should get onto Wikipedia...

[Crumbling Nick]

Mrs Kunst went online to arrange delivery of milk by milkman a few months ago, just to ensure we had enough full fat milk for Uralina.  I noticed on the first day that the use by date was shorter than supermarket milk. By the third day, the use by date and the actual date of delivery were the same. By the end of the first week, they were delivering out of date milk to us.

There wasn't a second week.

So which was in error...
The age of the milk or the use by date?

[hellymedic]

A previous milkman occasionally delivered us milk that was 'on the turn'.
Some deliver fresh and some don't.
I would never attempt to test if our milk is still usable on  its 'use by' date.

[Crumbling Nick]

A previous milkman occasionally delivered us milk that was 'on the turn'.
Some deliver fresh and some don't.
I would never attempt to test if our milk is still usable on  its 'use by' date.

And neither I nor Mrs N would ever have given milk to our offspring without tasting it, if there were any question about its freshness.

That's the simplest test I know of. Did you mean something different?

[hellymedic]

What I meant was I always use my miilk within three days of receipt, even if the date is a week ahead.
I suppose I sniff it subconsciously and taste if there's any doubt.
I don't have kids.

[Crumbling Nick]

I suppose I sniff it subconsciously and taste if there's any doubt.

Touché. If milk is getting a bit tired, then smell tends to hit one on opening the bottle. Tasting is the second check.

I was trying to avoid getting into a rant about best before dates (as opposed to date of bottling or date when bread was baked) , which would need a separate thread.

[Julian]

Although I drink cow milk in tea and occasionally on cereal, I don't like it by itself and can't tell if it's off.  It always smells a bit off to me, even when it's fresh. 

[Cudzoziemiec]

A previous milkman occasionally delivered us milk that was 'on the turn'.
Some deliver fresh and some don't.
I would never attempt to test if our milk is still usable on  its 'use by' date.

And neither I nor Mrs N would ever have given milk to our offspring without tasting it, if there were any question about its freshness.

That's the simplest test I know of. Did you mean something different?

I've found my son is far more sensitive to food of all sorts that's off than either of us is.

Although I drink cow milk in tea and occasionally on cereal, I don't like it by itself and can't tell if it's off.  It always smells a bit off to me, even when it's fresh. 

I suppose that strictly speaking, unless you get it warm from the cow, it really is not fresh, even if it's not off.

[Mr Larrington]

R4's The Food Programme was entirely concerned with moo juice this week.  It used to be the case, in the days when milk was just milk, that anything under 3% fat was deemed to have been watered down and therefore not worthy of the name  IIRC semi-skilled is generally 2% these days and there is a trend towards hemi-demi-semi-skilled 1%.

[a lower gear]

The alternative explanation is that the four quarters of the udder each give a different grade of milk and that the four teats are colour coded accordingly for  skim / semi / full fat / soya (the last requires a special soy-based cattle feed). To stop colour blind farmers mucking up the system the Ministry requires them to take colour blindness eye tests before they are licensed; if they fail the test they become beef farmers instead. Thus the map in the back of your school atlas showing dairy / beef / sheep / arable farm distribution is also a good indicator of the incidence of heriditary colour blindness in the UK - because famers don't move around the country as much as the rest of the population, their colour blindness incidences reflects the distribution of the Celtic tribes, Angles, Saxons, Jute and Viking invaders.

Brilliant. That should get onto Wikipedia...

That's where I cut and pasted it from...

[a lower gear]

R4's The Food Programme was entirely concerned with moo juice this week.  It used to be the case, in the days when milk was just milk, that anything under 3% fat was deemed to have been watered down and therefore not worthy of the name  IIRC semi-skilled is generally 2% these days and there is a trend towards hemi-demi-semi-skilled 1%.

I caught most of t'programme on t'wireless; it were right good, it were. Well worth seeking out on the one week's grace you get via the BBC online site if you missed it.