Can You Eat Expired Sour Cream?
You should avoid eating sour cream after its expiration date. It should be refrigerated and must be used within 18 to 21 days after the sell-by date. However, if the sour cream doesn’t show any sign of spoilage and are properly stored, they might be safe to consume past the printed date.
According to food authorities, sour cream is safe to eat after only three weeks past its best-by date (it does not matter whether it is opened or not). If it is about a sell-by date for sour cream, then an unopened sour cream is safe to consume up to 1-2 weeks past its sell-by date, provided that it is stored correctly in the refrigerator at or below 40 degrees F. Unopened–stored in the refrigerator, sour cream may last as long as three weeks beyond its sell-by date, but be sure to thoroughly inspect it before using.
When it comes to sour cream, then, it may still remain usable for several days after the print date on the box, provided that it is stored correctly. Once you have opened the packaging, sour cream does not keep any longer than two weeks as long as it is stored in an airtight container in a proper temperature of 40 F (4.5 C). An unopened container will keep for about two weeks if kept refrigerated, but avoid freezing this product.
As a general rule of thumb, you can expect this product to remain fresh about two weeks after opening the container. In most cases, you will keep the product you bought fresh a couple of days longer, and can even use it up to seven or 10 days after its best-by date as long as it is stored properly. For a past sell-by date in your home, you may be able to keep storing food a shorter time, depending on what it is.
By the way if you are interested in Can You Get Sick From Eating Expired Sour Cream, then check out this article where I cover things in detail.
While a product may be used and enjoyed beyond that date, it is not recommended that you buy a product if its sell-by date has passed. The Sell By Date for the products is the products shelf life, which is when it will be finished in stores. The Sell By Date informs a store about the time it should keep the product in stock to manage inventory.
Typically, the Best-By date would be related to a quality property such as color, flavor, or freshness that has degraded. The best-by date, or best-before date, written on the sour cream package, is related to quality, not safety, so sour cream does not necessarily get worse right after a best-before date. This date is for a period during which you will enjoy the sour creams peak quality and taste, but you can still eat sour cream that is past that date if you keep it stored correctly.
| Type of Sour Cream | Shelf Life |
| Sour Cream (unopened) | 2-3 weeks (In refrigerator) |
| Sour Cream (opened) | 2 weeks |
| Heavy Cream (unopened) | 2-3 weeks |
Keep in mind, a shelf-life date is not a stone-carved rule, and you may find yourself facing spoiled sour cream far more quickly if you store it improperly. If a tub of sour cream has been left sitting on a countertop at room temperature for a few hours, the bacteria may be set and it is unsafe to eat, regardless of its best-by date. You should keep your tubs of sour cream on one of the shelves in the fridge, rather than on the doors, because the doors of your fridge experience many temperature fluctuations, which could ruin the quality of your sour cream. To help prolong the shelf life of purchased sour cream, grab the tub toward the end of a trip around the supermarket, and consider taking a cooler with you in the car to maintain the temperature levels during warmer days.
Consuming expired sour cream also increases your body temperature, and you may experience fever, which is the natural protective mechanism of the body, and is an indication that something is wrong with your body. The friendly sour-producing bacteria may slowly grow for weeks at refrigeration temperatures, or faster if you have left the sour cream outside at room temperature for any length of time.
To learn about Can Ice Go Bad, then check out my another article.
The proteins and sugars in the milk offer a happy culture medium for friendly sour-producing bacteria, but also for an array of unfriendly bacteria and moulds that can cause disease. Raw cream has not been heated, so the proteins are still intact, they do not coagulate in the same way, and they cannot form a dense texture. You could grate Queso fresco and kinda melt it down to make a sauce, and then add milk or cream, but it is sauce, not cheese melted.
Product stored that way does not last nearly as long as when packed airtight. The liquid will generally turn yellowish around 2-3 weeks before the expiration date, and will be too smelly and taste bad around 1 and 1/2 – 2 weeks prior to that date. Consuming heavy cream weeks and months after expiration dates may result in food poisoning or upset stomach. Eating out-of-date cream does not present any health risks, and is not likely to get you sick.
In the case of cream, eating it after its use-by date might mean the food is more acidic than usual, and may have lost moisture and become dry. Cream may be able to survive 1-3 weeks past the “use by” date, depending on the type, how it is stored, and how it is intended to be used. The shelf life of dairy cream is affected by various factors, such as type of cream, the processing method, the packaging date, exposure to heat, and the way in which it is stored. It depends on various factors, including type of sour cream, the type of sour cream, the process of processing and pasteurization, packing date, type of container, location in which the product is stored, and its exposure to heat.
Unopened heavy cream typically stays in good quality about 2 to 3 weeks past the date on the package, as long as it has been kept refrigerated consistently. By smell, taste, and looking at appearance, you can use best judgment to determine product freshness. You can safely store frozen milk in the freezer up to 6 months, but preferably, you will use it within 1 month after freezing.
A discolored surface, turning yellow, pink, greenish, or blue, means that bacteria and fungus have started growing within fresh sour cream, making it unusable. Daisy sour cream started making its way to dairy aisles throughout the United States in spring of 2015, and is now found in most large supermarkets, including Stop & Shop, Wegmans, and Walmart.
Can you get sick from expired Sour cream?
If you ingest tainted sour cream, you risk developing food poisoning, which can lead to discomfort from mild to severe. Food poisoning can include fever, dysentery, nausea, and stomach discomfort. It may appear immediately or after several days of drinking bad sour cream.
How do you know if sour cream has gone bad?
The sour cream should have a sour scent, and any variations in odor are the first clue that something went wrong. The rotten product will have an unpleasant, harsh, moldy, biting, rotten, or smelly odor. In many cases, it is the result of excessive internal development, which compromises its safety.