The existence of circle indents on plastic milk containers is a recurring source of internet speculation. "Why do milk jugs have these," a Redditor asked in a 2015 post in the r/whatisthis, for example. The thread was marked resolved after the group settled, incorrectly, on three explanations.
In July 2021, as another example, USA Today covered a viral Facebook claim about those circular indentations. Both the Reddit thread and the Facebook post included the same claim: that these indentations "pop" out, thanks to gas buildup produced as milk spoils. This claim is false. Instead, these indentations represent efforts by the dairy industry to lower packaging costs while making their product visually appealing.
As stated on patent documents for a plastic milk jug containing circle indents, two reasons for them exist: "to control [the] fill level of a given volume of contents" and "to further stabiliz[e] the sidewalls" of a container. This article explores why the expiration explanation fails, and how we know these other two explanations — like a plastic container — hold water.
The assertion that plastic milk container indents "pop" when milk expires relies on the flawed assumption that the process of milk spoilage produces gas. While gas production can occur in some situations, this is not a valid assumption in most cases. That's because the pasteurization process typically kills the forms of bacteria that produce gas, and...
Published on: Washington: India’s Operation Sindoor, launched following the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir in which 26 civilians were killed by Pakistan-backed terrorists,...