HELENA — A bill to put two dates on a carton of milk — a sell-by date and best-by date — was opposed by several people who on Tuesday testified that dual dating would confuse consumers.
Rep. Greg Hertz, R-Polson, who is carrying House Bill 272, stressed that his bill would not change the 12-day sell-by rule in Montana, a much-debated and fought-over rule the Department of Livestock has enforced since the 1980s.
Hertz, who operates six grocery stores in Montana and Idaho, said the change would give consumers an idea of how long their milk is safe to drink after they bring it home. Milk producers across the Northwest typically say their milk is good for 21 days after pasteurization, leaving a nine-day gap between the sell-by date and when milk goes bad.
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