Avonmore Milk lasts longer than Lidl milk. Why?

Yillan

I've noticed that avonmore use by dates are further in the future than Lidl use by dates. And Avonmore is more likely to stay usable up until nearly its use by date even if it's opened for nearly a week. I just threw out two litres of lidl milk unopened and in date because it was curdling in the tea, while a litre of avonmore that was bought and opened a day before the lidl milk was still good until yesterday.

Is there any farming or pasteurization differences between the two milks, or the length of time from cow to shelf?

Thanks

Timmaay

Yillan wrote: »

I've noticed that avonmore use by dates are further in the future than Lidl use by dates. And Avonmore is more likely to stay usable up until nearly its use by date even if it's opened for nearly a week. I just threw out two litres of lidl milk unopened and in date because it was curdling in the tea, while a litre of avonmore that was bought and opened a day before the lidl milk was still good until yesterday.

Is there any farming or pasteurization differences between the two milks, or the length of time from cow to shelf?

Thanks

Only potential farming differences, if the lidl milk is sourced from a northern processor then it's more likely to be from a herd that housed fulltime and on a much higher level of grain etc, against the avonmore milk which would be from a spring calving cow who 90% of her diet is grazed grass (athlo probably not this spring haha). Who supplies lidl with their milk?

colm_mcm

There are 2 different ways they pasturize the milk. You’ll see coming up to Christmas there’ll be loads of milk with longer dates. An ex of mine worked in Dawn Daries and they would have supplied various different supermarkets with own brand stuff, the supermarket bound milk didn’t have to last as long as the branded milk going to smaller shops.

solerina

I used to buy Lidl milk but gave up because it was constantly going off. I asked a friend who’s son had gotten a job there could she find out why. He said the milk is stored out the back in the warehouse and not cooled until it is on the shop floor.

jimini0

Lidl own brand milk will be delivered in a fridge lorry with various other cooled goods. It will be sitting in a warehouse waiting to be delivered. Then It might be left in the storeroom uncooled till put into fridge displays or cold room for storage.
Branded milk like avanmore,dawn,connaght etc are delivered by own company lorries or vans and taken straight from lorry/van and put in store fridges.
So basically the branded milk spends less time sitting out in the uncooled environment and more time in a fridge.

pms7

Visited a bottling dairy in Scotland. They could get up to 12 days shelf life because of hygiene and procedures they had.

HeidiHeidi

pms7 wrote: »

Visited a bottling dairy in Scotland. They could get up to 12 days shelf life because of hygiene and procedures they had.

As others have posted though, is that 12 days dependent on the subsequent handling and storage of those bottles (are there even such things as bottles of milk any more )

I always take best before dates for chilled products with a large pinch of salt, I've seen cages of stuff abandoned in supermarket aisles and out on footpaths in the sun.

blue5000

I think there was an experiment done where milk pasteurised after 3 or 4 days lasted longer than milk pasteurised after only 1 day from the cow. But if Lidl are storing milk in a warehouse un-refrigerated that would explain why their milk goes off.

Anyone hear is Avonmore adding sugar to milk?

Buford T. Justice XIX

blue5000 wrote: »

I think there was an experiment done where milk pasteurised after 3 or 4 days lasted longer than milk pasteurised after only 1 day from the cow. But if Lidl are storing milk in a warehouse un-refrigerated that would explain why their milk goes off.

Anyone hear is Avonmore adding sugar to milk?

Sugar as in Sucrose or sugar as in Lactose?

ganmo

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

Sugar as in Sucrose or sugar as in Lactose?

If they’re adding in sucrose they’d have to have it on the ingredients

ScouseMouse

When I worked for Lidl, the contract lorry drivers unloaded, without helpers, using electric pallet trucks. If the load did not fit into the fridge, it was left in the general storeroom. The driver would make no attempt to move things around as it was not his job, anything to keep the cost down.

I regularly found chill products left in the general storeroom. This is why the wife is not allowed to buy Lidl Chickens. Not bothered about the rest of it.

blue5000

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

Sugar as in Sucrose or sugar as in Lactose?

I don't know, just somebody was having a cup of tea with her husband who takes sugar in his tea. She took a sip, it tasted sweet and she says to the husband 'this must be your tea, there's sugar in that'. But it turned out his was sweeter.

Keepgrowing

blue5000 wrote: »

I don't know, just somebody was having a cup of tea with her husband who takes sugar in his tea. She took a sip, it tasted sweet and she says to the husband 'this must be your tea, there's sugar in that'. But it turned out his was sweeter.

That's conclusive so.

valtra2

blue5000 wrote: »

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

Sugar as in Sucrose or sugar as in Lactose?

I don't know, just somebody was having a cup of tea with her husband who takes sugar in his tea. She took a sip, it tasted sweet and she says to the husband 'this must be your tea, there's sugar in that'. But it turned out his was sweeter.

Maybe someone put sugar in both. Mad idea but sometimes it happens.

HeidiHeidi

valtra2 wrote: »

Maybe someone put sugar in both. Mad idea but sometimes it happens.

Far more likely than Avonmore surreptitiously slipping sugar into their milk, I'd have thought!

Macy0161

jimini0 wrote: »

Lidl own brand milk will be delivered in a fridge lorry with various other cooled goods. It will be sitting in a warehouse waiting to be delivered. Then It might be left in the storeroom uncooled till put into fridge displays or cold room for storage.
Branded milk like avanmore,dawn,connaght etc are delivered by own company lorries or vans and taken straight from lorry/van and put in store fridges.
So basically the branded milk spends less time sitting out in the uncooled environment and more time in a fridge.

I've seen branded milk left outside of (albeit local) shops in the morning when I'm commuting in and it's been delivered before the store has opened - I'm not sure it's quite as clear cut that one is treated better than another tbh.

Water John

Checked with a source on some of this. All chicken is delivered in TKTs, chilled storage containers to Lidl. They don't need to be in the chiller.
Milk comes two ways. The cardboard ones are on the bottom layer of a pallet, so always in the backup chiller. Milk trolleys nearly always have room in the back up chiller. If not, one is put on the shop floor.
Maybe all branches don't operate to this standard. But the chicken is all delivered in TKTs.

ScouseMouse

Water John wrote: »

Checked with a source on some of this. All chicken is delivered in TKTs, chilled storage containers to Lidl. They don't need to be in the chiller.
Milk comes two ways. The cardboard ones are on the bottom layer of a pallet, so always in the backup chiller. Milk trolleys nearly always have room in the back up chiller. If not, one is put on the shop floor.
Maybe all branches don't operate to this standard. But the chicken is all delivered in TKTs.

As i said earlier, if there is something in the backup fridge already, the chill pallet was just left sitting in the general storeroom.
Its a few years since I worked for LIDL, but back then, the chickens came in on pallets with other chilled stock. Frozen food used to come in in blue insulated containers about 5 foot high.

Water John

That's ok. Hope all their stores have improved. Mine is from an up to date source, but relates to a store that is in the top 10% of their audit. So, there may be some, nearer to your scenario, also.

J.pilkington

ScouseMouse wrote: »

When I worked for Lidl, the contract lorry drivers unloaded, without helpers, using electric pallet trucks. If the load did not fit into the fridge, it was left in the general storeroom. The driver would make no attempt to move things around as it was not his job, anything to keep the cost down.

I regularly found chill products left in the general storeroom. This is why the wife is not allowed to buy Lidl Chickens. Not bothered about the rest of it.

Lidl is hated amongst the trucking community as they treat the sub contracted drivers who deliver both to they warehouses and stores (they don’t own any trucks / hire any drivers) like 2nd class citizens.

All this bull about a living wage / community etc is just a front. It’s all aggressively about the bottom line, no other supermarket treats drivers worse than Lidl does.

Water John

A well known major mainstream retailer, used to delay delivery drivers, so that they would be delayed getting to other stores.
Staff in Lidl are not allowed work with the delivery crew, correct.

4068ac1elhodqr

Always try to opt for an 'Organic' version, costs more, but tastes whey better.

Bandana boy

Its ages since I bought Lidl Milk , but I seem to recall it was English Milk not Irish .

uck51js9zml2yt

J.pilkington wrote: »

Lidl is hated amongst the trucking community as they treat the sub contracted drivers who deliver both to they warehouses and stores (they don’t own any trucks / hire any drivers) like 2nd class citizens.

All this bull about a living wage / community etc is just a front. It’s all aggressively about the bottom line, no other supermarket treats drivers worse than Lidl does.

Years ago Musgrave's got rid of all their drivers and took them back as self employed contractors.

J.pilkington

Ember Hallowed Nut wrote: »

Years ago Musgrave's got rid of all their drivers and took them back as self employed contractors.

Appreciate we are going off topic but the above is contrary to what I know.

In the north the haulage is subcontracted to wincanton
In the south they own/lease their own fleet and have two tiers of drivers, (i) long serving who are on an old contract and well paid and treated (cherry pick hours / routes) and (ii) newer drivers who are paid a lot less and on "modern day" contracts.

Anyways, hiring back drivers on a full time basis as contractors / self employed to drive musgraves trucks would fail the Revenues definition of employee v employer unless the drivers are also working for other other firms on a self employed basis.

wats the craic

Bandana boy wrote: »

Its ages since I bought Lidl Milk , but I seem to recall it was English Milk not Irish .

so i have been farming in england all this time and never knew :rolleyes:

Water John

The milk could be from ROI or NI, or ROI milk processed in NI, not UK milk.

kerryjack

Timmaay wrote: »

Yillan wrote: »

I've noticed that avonmore use by dates are further in the future than Lidl use by dates. And Avonmore is more likely to stay usable up until nearly its use by date even if it's opened for nearly a week. I just threw out two litres of lidl milk unopened and in date because it was curdling in the tea, while a litre of avonmore that was bought and opened a day before the lidl milk was still good until yesterday.

Is there any farming or pasteurization differences between the two milks, or the length of time from cow to shelf?

Thanks

Only potential farming differences, if the lidl milk is sourced from a northern processor then it's more likely to be from a herd that housed fulltime and on a much higher level of grain etc, against the avonmore milk which would be from a spring calving cow who 90% of her diet is grazed grass (athlo probably not this spring haha). Who supplies lidl with their milk?

That's bull