Had out of date milk!

[Lolabelle17]

So I am 23 days and 3 days pregnant - we’ve had milk in the fridge that went out of date on 16/12/2025 that I’ve had in cereal, a drink of milk and hot drinks up till today (19/12/2025) when I realised it was out of date.. I am now majorly panicking about listeria! I’ve had no symptoms but you know what your mind does.

The milk, up until today, didn’t taste weird.

It will be fine.

You will be absolutely fine

Most supermarkets have stopped putting use by dates on milk. If milk is "off" the smell hits you between the eyes,you wouldn't be drinking it!

Pasteurised milk isn't a listeria risk. And if it was "off" with another bacteria, you'd have tasted it as rank and wouldn't be able to drink it. You'll be fine!

All will be fine. Don't worry.

I'm still using milk that was out of date 2 weeks ago. Its fine. There was a big thing made about this the other year. If milk goes off you'll know about it!

you'll be absolutely fine. Please stop worrying x

If it smelled ok you're all good

I agree if it was off you’d know about it. I always do the sniff test. You’ll be fine.

You're not going to get listeria!

If you didn't smell or taste that it was off... it wasn't off. Realistically how does your milk know it's gone midnight and it must be gone off? You'd know if it was rotten.. you will 100% be fine

Why do you think it was off if you managed to eat/drink with it? Surely you would have spat it out immediately if it had soured?

Look/smell/taste is usually enough to decide on milk.
Conversely I've had milk that was clearly off well before the use by date....so they are more of guideline than anything else....

Plus, it's listeriosis that's genuinely a risk in pregnancy, rather than general food poisoning. Gone off food doesn't give you listeriosis. Bagged salads and deli meat is the biggest risk for this, even when it's in date, it doesn't have to be gone off. But the absolute risk of listeriosis from deli meat is 1 in 83,000. Unless that's how many servings you plan to eat over Christmas (no judgement), you're actually at greater risk of being killed by a rogue donkey at the local nativity.

It's fine. Carry on.

Listeria is only a risk in unpasteurised milk, You will be fine.

I never check the date I always do the sniff test. I've had milk go off before the date, it depends on how the food/drink has been handled anyway.

Milk doesn’t automatically go on a specified date. You would be able to taste if it was off.

I had out of date ham and chicken a few months ago 8 days out of date.
Taste nice.
Im still alive.

I do the sniff test.
And I too have had milk go off before the date.
Mainly the milk I get from spa or iceland.
So now only get the long life milk.

If you didn’t notice that probably means it didn’t smell or taste bad which probably means it was fine!

Gods sake you're fine. The dates are all a scam to make us waste / buy more, mad anyone pays attention to them. You would have tasted if it was gone off.

You can't do anything now. If you contract listeria you won't be any doubt about it. Until you start feeling awful or projectile vomiting I honestly wouldn't worry. The chances of listeria, although higher in pregnant women are still very unlikely. To the point that if you were to hop across the channel the French would laugh at you for suggesting it, while munching on their soft blue cheese and snacking on pate. There are no food limitations there for pregnant people at all. Hope this helps put it in perspective. Honestly don't worry unless you start spewing chunks!

I know this isn't exactly the topic but I was ill when I was pregnant and ate a tonne of brie that was off (because I was ill, I couldn't taste or smell properly). I was fine and my senses came back. But (and I know this likely isn't the case for OP although she's seemingly not responded yet) I have later almost completely lost my sense of smell and taste permanently (I suspect covid or similar virus caused it since I never actually tested positive) years ago. This is therefore an aside really just to point out that a blanket "you'd know if it was off" isn't always the case. I really wouldn't. I got halfway through a mouldy crumpet once and the only reason I realised was when I looked down, the inside was black. No signs on the outside and I couldn't smell or taste so.... I was so upset. I'm sure OP will be fine either way, even if she does have anosmia and the milk was a bit off. It's just not a very pleasant and very vulnerable feeling to unwittingly consume something that might harm you. People still look at me strangely if I ask them to smell something for me. I guess we don't really realise how much we rely on our senses to inform us until we can't.