Buying Dairy: Shopping Safety Tips

Dairy products are an ideal breeding ground for disease-causing bacteria if they are not handled and stored properly. Fortunately, there are many safeguards in place to ensure the milk you buy in the store is healthy and safe.

Milk-producing animals are well cared-for and the milking process is clean. However, bacteria can still be found in milk from healthy animals. Safeguard your family with these tips:

Buy pasteurized milk; avoid “raw” products. Pasteurization is an important processing step to ensure that milk is safe. Pasteurization involves heating milk for a specific amount of time to kill all disease-causing bacteria. There is no drawback to this process; it doesn’t affect the nutritional content of the milk.

0Buy the freshest dairy products. Checking the “sell by” date on the container is another way to make sure the milk you’re buying is safe. This date tells the store until when it can offer the product. Note that a “best if used by” date tells you by what date you should consume the food.

Make buying dairy products a regular part of your diet to reap the many health benefits. Just remember these key tips to help you choose wisely.

Culled from Everyday Health.