Storing sour cream upside down prevents spoilage 3990

zxcvbob

Right. Industry guidelines say it will last up to a month, but it spoils in a week in your fridge. Ok...

How could you tell if the bottom of that container of cottage cheese had mold growing in it? Turning it back right side up means that any moldy or green-pink stuff would be at the bottom, buried under the top stuff. Stirring it to see would just mix it into the rest of the cottage cheese and make it invisible.

Above you say, "Nothing beats first-hand experience, Bob."

Well, I'm afraid I don't believe that this inversion matters. So far, it's been a very small bit of anecdotal comment and a lot of speculation, but nothing substantive to document it. Lots of food science and industry experience to contradict it. My "first-hand experience" as well.

Turning the container over creates turbulence, mixing; part of top goes to bottom. Air pocket at top of upright container has to go to the bottom. Takes critters and fungi with it. For as long as yogurt has been around - and kefir, koumiss, sour cream, cottage cheese and other fermented milks - no culture stores any of it in upside down containers. Nobody else does it, including the folks who essentially invented those things and can't afford to waste any of it.

Containers unopened, handled and refrigerated - everything done properly - will spoil. That plastic sheet that sits down flush with the top of the cottage cheese should keep out air, but it will spoil anyway. The ingredients for spoilage are already in there. It'll spoil no matter what. And it'll spoil in your fridge - right side up - in something between about a week and a half and a month, depending on many factors not least how close to sell-by date when purchased.

"Fresh cheeses such as cottage cheese may be subject to spoilage by gram-negative psychrotrophic bacteria (Pseudomonas, Flavobacterium, Alcaligenes), coliforms, yeast, and molds that enter as post-pasteurization contaminants."

But I have to go back to a central question: If it works, why do the manufacturers not know it. Why doesn't the FDA know about it? The European Union that's all atwitter about food storage and sanitation? Why don't industry groups know about it? Why not anaerobic packaging like squeeze tubes if aerobic/anaerobic is an issue?

It's not like they aren't constantly searching for ways to improve shelf life. They already package some of it with a modified atmosphere to slow spoilage: "Cultured products present new window of opportunity "In the past, cultured products such as cottage cheese and yoghurt were not packaged in modified atmospheres. This is changing, however, to meet market demands for longer shelf-lives. CO2 extends the shelf-life of cottage cheese by one week, for example."

Yeast, mold and bacteria. Sounds like a law firm.

"Yeast and molds that tolerate lower pH are the more predominant spoilage organisms. Bacillus subtillis and b. cereus can cause bitter flavors if large numbers survive pasteurization."

Pastorio