Calling all urban wives, urban husbands, and urban milkaholics in general! Yeah Lindsay, I’m talking to you. Who out there has ever wondered why we New Yorkers get not one, but two sell by dates on our milk containers? We fortunate souls find a NYC sell by date and an outside NYC sell by date. Yet the question remains, why? And why are the NYC sell by dates typically three days earlier than the outside world?

Feeling sleuthy, I googled this topic and found the answers I was looking for. Because everything you read on the internets is true, riiight!? I had to unearth a New York Times article from 1982 to make sure the answers I found via Google were legit. Yes, this article is older than moi, but the explanation remains the same nearly thirty (really? oy veh) years later.

Moo juice, as I like to call it in our household, is more likely to stand unrefrigerated for longer periods of time before it arrives at it’s New York City destination and also on the journey from store to home. Thus, spoilage hastens. The city’s Health Department and milk inspector (yes, we have our very own milk inspector!) determined that our milk correspondingly has a shorter self life than the rest of the country. This is also part of the reason why our milk has a higher markup. And there you have it folks!

Ok questions answered, but is this for real? You mean to tell me that the bodega in Jersey City or corner store in Chicagoland is more efficient than the one in the West Village? You mean to tell me that in over the past 30 years we as a milk producing country haven’t made huge strides in milk transportation? I’m baffled and feel that this issue needs to be revisited Mr. Milk Inspector.

Are you scratching your head too? First read the entire NYT article here: The New York Times

And then go contact the New York City Department of Health here: New York City Department of Health