KRTV

Posted: Mar 15, 2010 5:24 PM
Updated: Mar 15, 2010 6:51 PM

Each container of milk you buy has two dates: a sell-by date, and an expiration date. The News Station's Marnee Banks tells us how reducing the information on each carton  could help stores move more milk.

Coremark corporation distributes milk across Montana to a handful of retailers, and it is proposing that the MT Board of Livestock change the date printed on milk cartons.

Christian Mackay, executive officer of the MT Board of Livestock, explained, "Milk is good for a given period of days and it's generally accepted that the time is approximately 21 days."

Currently the rule states that milk must be sold within a 12-day sell-by date - not to be confused with an expiration date.

Now, when consumers buy milk they have an additional 10 days to drink it from the date on the carton.

Mackay noted, "In other words, milk had to be sold 12 days after pasteurization, and that gave the consumer plenty of time to use it from the time they got it home to that approximate 21-day date."

Coremark is selling milk with two dates: a 12-day pull-by date, and a 21-day expiration date.

Coremark retailers claim the 12-day sell-by date forces them to dump milk that hasn't expired yet, leading to lost revenue and wasted milk.

Mackay said, "You can figure it's an average of between four to six percent that gets tossed out every week; every gallon that gets thrown away, somebody has to absorb that cost. It's not all being absorbed by by the retailer. The consumers are paying for that loss."

He continued, "We did hear comments from some retailers that they are having to dump milk, but the retailers we heard from were convenience store retailers. We didn't hear that from any large grocery stores or large distributors of milk."

The Board of Livestock will decide whether or not to change the date. Click here to visit the agency's website.