Baking – use expired cream cheese spread

bakingcheese

I bought cream cheese (Milkana), didn't use it, and I found out it already expired on 5 August 2013 (over a month ago).

Taste and smell are still good. Can I use it for baking?

Best Answer

Taste and smell are good indicators, and most companies take a very safe approach with labeling, and are quite conservative in their estimation of expiration. Dairy products tend to spoil in a manner that isn't stealthy (no sneaky botulism*). I might eat it, if I was really in the mood for cream cheese.

But you have to ask yourself, "Do I feel lucky?"

Well, do ya, punk?

*Probably. There have been scares, but the incidence of botulism in dairy products is vanishingly small. Dairy comes with its own suite of microfauna that outcompetes nearly all other types of bacteria.