Walking into my friends apartment last semester, on two different occasions, I watched her pour a seemingly perfect gallon of milk down the drain. She exclaimed, as if the situation were obvious, "Yesterday was the expiration date!" I shoke my head. I believe in the ten second rule, I think that protection from germs makes you less resistant to them, and I believe that the milk is still good a few days after the expiration date. However, even I was shocked by the little carton of milk that my senora was leaving sitting out for hours. Then even more surprised when I realized it had an expiration date not just a few days, or even weeks, but a full two or three months away. It just didn't seem right! For 6 weeks now I have taken that carton of milk from the tray on our breakfast table, made the effort to keep a straight face, and then poured into a class mixed with ColoCoa to mask the different taste. Finally, this weekend I was fed up and had to do a little research: Why is the Spanish milk so different? The best answer that I could find explained that in Spain the majority of milk is Organic and/or nonpastuerized. More research told me that this meant that it would have a longer expiration date. Even in the United States UHT (unpasturized milk) is given a later expiration date. However, the two month difference is a reflection of the policy requirements for the production and the labeling of milk in Spain. While my standards would tell me this is NOT fresh milk, the expiration date is accurate to the milk in the carton. Furthermore, the variety of taste is also the difference in the production methods. If a traveler can not handle the change then they are recommended to go to the nearest Corte Ingles department store, where "fresh" milk more closely related to milk from the United States is sold.