If your milk sours before you finish it, your fridge set-up could be to blame. Many people store milk in the door for convenience, but experts warn that spot is exposed to the biggest temperature swings. Every time the fridge opens, the door warms up first, causing milk to turn quicker than expected.
Where to Store Milk for Maximum Freshness
Arla Foods generally recommends avoiding the fridge door. “If you can, storing milk at the back of the fridge is always a good move. The further away from the door the milk is, the more consistently chilled it will be, safe from the constantly changing temperature outside and safe from going off,” the experts advised.
Is the Fridge Door Ever Safe?
If you still prefer the fridge door, you can keep doing so. Speaking to BBC Morning Live, TV doctor Dr Xand van Tulleken said the middle shelf can be a good home for milk, but reassured viewers it’s often fine in the door, particularly in busy households where it’s used up fast. However, he cautioned that milk can spoil quickly and urged caution for anyone who doesn’t get through it fast.
“People in the UK know how to run their fridges, right? You know, we've got two small children, we blitz through the milk, we keep the milk in the door because it's convenient. Loads of people will do that, and that's absolutely fine. But milk does spoil rapidly,” the doctor said.
“If you are, you know, perhaps living on your own, you don't use all your milk all the time, the sniff test is not good enough for milk. Milk can still contain dangerous bugs, even if it smells okay. So if you're not using milk quickly, keep it in the main fridge.”
The video was shared on Facebook, captioned: “Dr Xand explains how simple mistakes like overfilling shelves or leaving the door open can turn it into a breeding ground for bacteria.”
People also shared storage tips in the comments. For instance, a social media user replied: “I’d also say do a regular inventory of your fridge too, making sure you clean and wipe everything down when you clear it out, and try to use food before it spoils.”
