Comments on: Yogurt Shelf Life? http://www.mainecheeseguild.org/?p=1031 Serving the interest of cheese-makers and cheese lovers in Maine and beyond Thu, 31 Jan 2013 19:09:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Monroe Cheese Studio http://www.mainecheeseguild.org/?p=1031&cpage=1#comment-320 Monroe Cheese Studio Tue, 15 Mar 2011 18:36:10 +0000 http://www.mainecheeseguild.org/?p=1031#comment-320 I make the White Gold version of local yogurt sold in Belfast, and I'm pretty sure the dairy reg.'s mention 3 weeks (though it may be vague) as the shelf-life of yogurt in the stores. That's what I've used for many years and the inspectors have seconded that decision. However, as you've point out, if it is *not opened* yogurt can last much longer. I have a farmer's market customer who "discovered" a jar of my yogurt after six months in their summer home fridge (I take it the fridge was on the whole time). She was curious, opened the jar, and ate the yogurt and said it tasted fine. As it's an acidic cultured product that should be a monoculture of yogurt cultures after fermentation if not contaminated by other bacteria before hand it could last for a long time at refrigerated temps. But that last bit is the key -- a contamination may not surface after three weeks, but will surface the longer it sits. There are bacteria that grow well at refrigerator temps (such as those that spoil milk in the fridge), they just grow slowly. So even though some samples have gone much longer than two or three weeks, that doesn't mean that EVERY sample will. Where as if the yogurt is made properly, and is kept properly refrigerated, EVERY jar should easily last three weeks on the store shelf, and another fourth week in the customer's refrigerator as they consume it in the worst case. Therefore, as a producer, I would not want to change the three week sell-by date, even if the store doesn't mind and the inspector doesn't notice. Plus, as a producer, I'm not sure I'd want "old yogurt" to represent my brand, especially if it's always next to "new yogurt" on the shelf. If you don't have enough markets to sell out your yogurt batches within three weeks, you're better off making cheese, especially aged cheese, with that extra milk because it will definitely keep longer, plus appeal to a different market. If it's only a few bottles from every batch, feed it to livestock, or make lots of yogurt cheese for your in-house consumption... I hope that helps, I make the White Gold version of local yogurt sold in Belfast, and I’m pretty sure the dairy reg.’s mention 3 weeks (though it may be vague) as the shelf-life of yogurt in the stores. That’s what I’ve used for many years and the inspectors have seconded that decision. However, as you’ve point out, if it is *not opened* yogurt can last much longer. I have a farmer’s market customer who “discovered” a jar of my yogurt after six months in their summer home fridge (I take it the fridge was on the whole time). She was curious, opened the jar, and ate the yogurt and said it tasted fine. As it’s an acidic cultured product that should be a monoculture of yogurt cultures after fermentation if not contaminated by other bacteria before hand it could last for a long time at refrigerated temps. But that last bit is the key — a contamination may not surface after three weeks, but will surface the longer it sits. There are bacteria that grow well at refrigerator temps (such as those that spoil milk in the fridge), they just grow slowly. So even though some samples have gone much longer than two or three weeks, that doesn’t mean that EVERY sample will. Where as if the yogurt is made properly, and is kept properly refrigerated, EVERY jar should easily last three weeks on the store shelf, and another fourth week in the customer’s refrigerator as they consume it in the worst case.

Therefore, as a producer, I would not want to change the three week sell-by date, even if the store doesn’t mind and the inspector doesn’t notice. Plus, as a producer, I’m not sure I’d want “old yogurt” to represent my brand, especially if it’s always next to “new yogurt” on the shelf. If you don’t have enough markets to sell out your yogurt batches within three weeks, you’re better off making cheese, especially aged cheese, with that extra milk because it will definitely keep longer, plus appeal to a different market. If it’s only a few bottles from every batch, feed it to livestock, or make lots of yogurt cheese for your in-house consumption…

I hope that helps,

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