What happens to products near the end of their shelf life? Is it possible to cut mold off cheese or bread? Is it true that the shelf life of perishable and children's products has a reserve of 1.5-2 times? Tells Senior Researcher, Laboratory of Biosafety and Nutrimicrobiome Analysis, Federal Research Center for Nutrition and Biotechnology Lyudmila Minaeva.
Questions and Answers What should be the labeling on products?
Yulia Borta, AiF.ru: Lyudmila Pavlovna, how do manufacturers set expiration dates for products? Can they assign a longer period to sell their products longer?
Lyudmila Minaeva: First you need to decide what the expiration date is. This is the time during which food products must fully comply with safety requirements and maintain their consumer qualities indicated on the packaging. After the expiration date, the product is not suitable for its intended use.
Special methods have been developed to establish expiration dates. They are spelled out in a document called MUK 4.2.1847-04. Sanitary and epidemiological assessment of the rationale for expiration dates and storage conditions of food products. For example, a manufacturer has developed a new product, say, introduced new fruit additives into yogurt. He needs to understand how long this product can be stored. To do this, he can conduct research himself in accordance with the approved methodology or submit it for research to the appropriate centers and laboratories. During the tests, it is assessed whether the activity of bifidobacteria and lactobacilli remains in the yogurt throughout the entire declared shelf life, taking into account the reserve period, how the oxidation indicator changes - the peroxide value, whether signs of spoilage appear, etc. And then a conclusion is made - confirm the declared shelf life or shorten it.
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— What does shelf life reserve mean?
— The shelf life established by the manufacturer ensures guaranteed product quality only if storage conditions are met. However, in the event of some non-standard conditions, discrepancies in storage temperatures during transportation, etc., in the process of confirming the shelf life, the study period for products is increased by a reserve factor. This is done to ensure that during the expiration date established by the manufacturer, the product corresponds to quality, safety and retains nutritional value.
Each product group has its own reserve ratio. For example, for perishable products with a shelf life of 7 days, the reserve coefficient when studying the shelf life is 1.5. This means that this product is examined for 10 days: if during this time the product deteriorates, then the shelf life is set to less than 7 days. Exactly the same coefficient of 1.5 is given for children's non-perishable products. For perishable products for children under 3 years of age, this coefficient is 2.
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The benefits and harms of milk
Milk is a universal product that is suitable for preparing many dishes, desserts, and aromatic pastries. Due to its high nutritional properties and calcium content, it is used to prevent bone diseases, helps prevent atherosclerosis, vegetative-vascular dystonia, and attacks of insomnia. Cosmetologists note its benefits in the manufacture of anti-aging products that restore radiance and beauty to the skin.
Is it possible to get poisoned from milk? Among the negative aspects, doctors note that consuming the product in large quantities increases the risk of developing diabetes. When protein digestion is impaired, some of it settles in the cartilage tissue of the joints, reduces their mobility, and provokes arthrosis. Therefore, it is recommended to observe moderation and rarely use fresh or too fatty milk.
Cottage cheese from expired milk in a slow cooker
Compound:
- sour milk – 1-1.5 l.
Cooking method:
- Pour the milk into the multicooker bowl.
- Run the device in heating mode for 1-2 hours.
- Place the contents of the multicooker bowl onto several layers of gauze and strain off the whey.
If expired milk doesn’t seem too sour yet, you can add a little lemon juice or a spoonful of sour cream to it, then it will curdle faster.
Causes of milk poisoning
According to the World Health Organization, 60% of all people on the planet lack digestive enzymes that break down milk protein molecules. Therefore, casein remains in the intestines, causing fermentation of all food, pain and diarrhea. This is accompanied by unpleasant symptoms and is often mistaken for food poisoning from cow's milk. This dangerous condition is increasingly being diagnosed in babies in the first year of life, who are exposed to lactose in the following form:
- If the mother regularly consumes fermented milk products during breastfeeding.
- Some parents switch their infants to whole or undiluted milk early, causing severe stress on the intestines.
- Every second milk formula contains up to 50% milk powder or its derivatives.
Many parents are not even aware of protein intolerance; they diligently treat dysbiosis or diarrhea. Doctors recommend taking a simple test that shows the level of enzymes in the digestive system and helps identify the cause of indigestion. In many cases, it is enough to switch the baby to a lactose-free formula to forget about the problem. No less dangerous is poisoning of breast milk from the mother, in which E. or staphylococcal coli are easily transmitted from an infected woman.
Making cottage cheese
The homemade product, sometimes called cheese, is great. We prepare juicy and tender cottage cheese exclusively from sour milk. Moreover, the fattier the original product, the better.
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Pour the expired milk into a saucepan and place it on the stove. Turn on medium heat and slowly stir the contents of the container. Remember: it is necessary that the pan heats up evenly both from below and from above. It is important. When the contents of the container warm up a little (light steam appears), you need to be careful to prevent the liquid from boiling. Otherwise, the cottage cheese will turn out hard and dry. We must ensure that the milk curdles, whey and small clots form.
Turn off the heat and cover the pan with a lid. We wait 5-10 minutes. This time is enough to take a fairly deep container, insert a sieve into it and cover it with gauze (3-4 layers). That’s it, the “installation” for making cottage cheese is ready. Pour the contents of the pan into it. When the whey stops flowing into the container, gather the edges of the gauze together, twist them and squeeze out the excess liquid with your hands. Then we enjoy homemade cottage cheese. By the way, there is no need to pour out the whey: it is a very useful product.
First aid at home
Doctors explain consistently what to do in case of milk poisoning. If the patient has consumed a product that has expired, it is necessary:
- Cleanse the stomach by inducing artificial vomiting. Regular soda added to the washing liquid helps neutralize the toxins of spoiled milk well.
- Drink an absorbent drug that absorbs and removes toxic compounds naturally. This allows you to protect the intestines and the entire body from severe complications on the internal organs.
- Treatment of milk poisoning is necessarily accompanied by taking medications that stop diarrhea and dehydration (Regidron, Smecta).
- Unlike viral diseases, in case of food intoxication it is necessary to reduce the temperature with antipyretics. When it is hot, you can wipe the patient with a damp towel and give more water or rice water.
When poisoned by expired pasteurized milk, intoxication develops in just a few hours. Therefore, if any complications occur or the condition worsens, you must call an ambulance. Kefir poisoning is no less dangerous.
Cooking features
- Expired milk must be assessed for taste and appearance before use. If it acquires a bitter taste instead of a sour taste, this may be a sign of mold, for example, due to the addition of antibiotics to the product. It is better to throw away such a product. You should not use sour milk that has changed color or that has suspicious lumps in it.
- Sour milk can be used to prepare even cold dishes that do not require heat treatment. This product can be turned into cold soup or a refreshing drink, or into healthy fermented milk products. However, more often pancakes, pancakes or pastries are made from expired milk.
- When heated or in contact with hot liquid, sour milk can curdle, so adding it to tea or coffee is not recommended. It can also take on an unappetizing appearance if you try to cook a hot first course on it.
Dishes made from milk, including sour milk, must be stored in the refrigerator. The shelf life of such foods usually does not exceed 24-48 hours.
Treatment of milk poisoning
The most dangerous poisoning is from village milk bought at a spontaneous market. Symptoms of an eating disorder may be accompanied by a disease carried by the animal. Therefore, you should not take risks and self-medicate. Upon admission to the hospital, doctors perform a number of procedures:
- wash the stomach through a tube,
- glucose and saline are administered to improve blood composition,
- control blood pressure and heart function,
- antibiotics are administered to kill bacteria in the rectum,
- normalize microflora using a complex with bifidobacteria.
How to treat milk poisoning in a child depends on the degree of damage to the intestines and the whole body. It includes the mandatory intake of absorbents, antibiotics and immunostimulants to boost defenses. After stopping diarrhea, a complex of vitamins and a diet enriched with calcium, proteins and dietary fiber are recommended.
The special diet lasts for at least 10 days. Is it possible to drink milk if poisoned? Nutritionists recommend temporarily abandoning the product in favor of low-fat kefir and fermented baked milk. It is better to relieve the digestive system with water-based cereals with added butter, chicken and vegetable broth, and baked apples.
When is bread dangerous?
— It turns out that you can eat yogurt for three more days after the expiration date, since you initially take a supply?
— No, this stock is so-called technological, and not for the consumer. The buyer needs to be guided by the information on the packaging. If the expiration date has expired, the product cannot be on store shelves. It must be disposed of or sent for recycling. The supplier assumes responsibility for the future fate of this product. If the product is planned to be sent for processing or animal feed, its examination must first be carried out. In the latter case - veterinary.
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— Perhaps the bread can always be sent for processing? Make breadcrumbs, breading, etc. from it.
- No not always. If the bread becomes moldy and mycotoxin production occurs in it, then it becomes dangerous for animals. In addition, there is such a phenomenon - potato bread disease. During hot periods with high humidity (for example, bread in film packaging under the rays of the sun), spore bacteria can develop inside the bread. When such bread is broken, a sticky crumb appears. And when cutting it, a viscous mark remains on the knife. In this case, there is often an unpleasant smell of rotten potatoes, which is why the name “potato disease” appeared. Sometimes they think that this is unbaked bread. What this actually means is that the bread has developed bacteria whose spores have survived baking. They turn starch into flour into a paste. Such bread is not only removed from the counter, it is not subject to any processing and must be sent for burning, because it represents a source of infection. These are the requirements of the “Instructions for the prevention of potato disease of bread at bakery enterprises.”
— What products can be consumed after the expiration date?
— If a product contains a fatty component, then in any case it is subject to oxidative spoilage. Therefore, it is unsafe to consume it after the expiration date. A person may not notice the rancid taste, but be tolerant of it. But at the same time it can harm your health. And if the product’s packaging is damaged, its appearance has changed, or an unpleasant odor has appeared, then it should not be consumed, even if the expiration date has not yet expired.
Question answer
What to do with “expired” food in the refrigerator?
— Are there products without an expiration date?
— All products have an expiration date. Even salt has an expiration date, usually 24 months. Although we understand that salt as a mineral has been stored on earth for millions of years, it is mined and processed. But when salt is packaged and sold in stores, that is, it is a food product, then an expiration date is established for it. This is a general safety principle. Likewise, sugar has an expiration date. If it is manufactured industrially and shipped in bags, then according to technical conditions its shelf life is up to 8 years, and for packaged products it is already less - 4 years for sand and 2 years for lump sugar. But again, much depends on storage conditions, which can shorten or increase shelf life.
Prevention
The best prevention of dairy product poisoning is careful attention to the process of purchasing and storing milk:
- study the composition and terms on the packaging,
- do not store the package open for more than 1–2 days,
- do not buy milk at spontaneous markets, require health certificates.
If you are poisoned by a store-bought product, you must contact the regulatory authorities. They inspect production and identify the cause of complaints. This helps improve the quality of milk and forces the producer to pay attention to compliance with standards.
Cold sour milk soup
Compound:
- sour milk – 0.8-1 l;
- cucumbers – 0.2 kg;
- radish – 100 g;
- garlic – 2 cloves;
- dill – 2 sprigs;
- refined vegetable oil – 20-40 ml;
- walnut kernels – 100 g;
- salt - to taste.
Cooking method:
- Grind the nut kernels through a meat grinder. Pass the garlic through a press. Finely chop the greens, add salt and mash. Mix nuts, garlic and herbs, adding 1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil to this mixture.
- Wash the vegetables, pat dry with a napkin, cut into thin strips, and mix.
- Divide vegetables and nut dressing among plates. Fill foods with cold, expired milk.
Radishes can be excluded from this soup, and dill can be supplemented with other herbs. This soup is served cold. You can even put a few ice cubes in bowls with it.
Your pet is not averse to enjoying sour milk
Expired milk is an excellent nutritional supplement for pets. Moreover, they are not at all concerned about such factors as smell or taste. Remember: in order not to harm animals, use only milk that has expired only 1-2 days ago (no more). The nutritional components of the product can be very beneficial for your dog or cat, but remember that some pets may be very sensitive to lactose. So take the time to consult your veterinarian before giving them milk.
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