Walmart customers think Great Value milk often goes bad even before expiration date: ‘It lasts...’

Walmart shoppers rely on the retail chain for its affordability and the quality of its Great Value brand products, but recently, the retail chain has come under fire for poor quality control. Most recently, shoppers have expressed concerns over the store's Great Value brand of milk going bad before the expiration date on the label. Turns out, it has been an issue for customers for quite some years, and now with increasing concerns over food safety, shoppers are demanding action. 

The issue dates as far back as 2018 when it was covered by NewsChannel 15. In an interview with the outlet, a customer named Cynthia Flanagan shared how her carton of milk poured out clumpy and spoiled fluid, five days before the expiration date. The shopper told the outlet that it was the third carton that went bad before the expiration date in the past few weeks at the time.  

Back then, a Walmart spokesperson told NewsChannel 15 that the company was taking the issue seriously. “We take this claim seriously and are looking into it as part of our ongoing quality control tests to ensure milk is good through its expiration date," the official statement read. However, even after nearly a decade, the matter remains unresolved. Most recently, more shoppers took to Reddit to complain of the same issue. “Walmart Great Value milk going bad before the expiration date,” a user called @Calcading wrote in a thread. 

Several users chimed in, claiming they too have faced similar problems. "Absolutely. That's why it is cheaper. Spend a couple extra bucks and get better quality milk. Also, never drink out of your milk container or touch anything to the opening. It introduces bacteria that spoil your milk more quickly," suggested a user @agedlikemilk.

Meanwhile, others suggested that the issue ran deeper than quality control, and it involves political decisions as well. "The supermarkets are telling the suppliers to print a false expiration date in order to keep shipping the product. Tariffs can make suppliers overload production. The suppliers are holding their supply because they don’t know if they can sell all of it, which they usually can," claimed @Technical_Living5104. However, one user, @BannedForEternity42, came out in defense of Walmart, saying, "Milk going off is purely a function of the temperature at which it is stored. Nothing else really matters. And the time it lasts versus the temperature that it’s been stored at is well documented. It’s easy to find this data."

Another such alarm was raised a few months ago on TikTok by user Chery Ford (@cheryford95), who suggested that policy changes had forced the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to stop its quality testing program for fluid milk. In her viral video, she issued a PSA to all her viewers claiming that the FDA is no longer testing milk across, and only a few organic brands were safe to consume.  

“All other brands, Costco, Walmart, Kroger, QFC, Aldi, Piggly Wiggly—I don’t know what you guys have out in the South—all of those will no longer be safe,” Ford told her viewers in the video.