How should we judge a government?

In Malaysia, if you don't watch television or read newspapers, you are uninformed; but if you do, you are misinformed!

"If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing." - Malcolm X

Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience - Mark Twain

Why we should be against censorship in a court of law: Publicity is the very soul of justice … it keeps the judge himself, while trying, under trial. - Jeremy Bentham

"Our government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no
responsibility at the other. " - Ronald Reagan

Government fed by the people

Government fed by the people

Career options

Career options
I suggest government... because nobody has ever been caught.

Corruption so prevalent it affects English language?

Corruption so prevalent it affects English language?
Corruption is so prevalent it affects English language?

When there's too much dirt...

When there's too much dirt...
We need better tools... to cover up mega corruptions.

Prevent bullying now!

Prevent bullying now!
If you're not going to speak up, how is the world supposed to know you exist? “Orang boleh pandai setinggi langit, tapi selama ia tidak menulis, ia akan hilang di dalam masyarakat dan dari sejarah.” - Ananta Prameodya Toer (Your intellect may soar to the sky but if you do not write, you will be lost from society and to history.)

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Making mistakes when buying fresh milk





One has to be extra careful when buying fresh milk from supermarkets. When in a cold country like England, milk used to be delivered daily and left outside the house with no problems as to freshness. We took for granted the quality of the pasteurised milk.


In Malaysia, initially we used UHT milk for our English tea until we tasted the difference using fresh milk instead. Since then, we buy fresh milk from the supermarket. Fresh milk has to be refrigerated and has limited shelf life, unlike the UHT milk in cartons which can be left on the shelves in ordinary shops. I had several bad experiences when buying fresh milk.


First of all, the date of expiry cannot be relied upon because of the likely lapses in quality control at the factory, during tranportation to retailers and while being stored on their shelves. There are differences in temperature where milk is being kept between different supermarkets.


Then there are differences in efficiency when taking delivery and finally putting them on the shelves. There is also the occasional risk of mischief of tampering by irresponsible people. If the goods are not properly inspected by staff, purchasers who bought them would feel cheated and the supermarket would get the blame.


I had the experience of having bought milk to be cleared (within 2 days of expiry) thinking I could use them for making 'milky coffee or tea' by boiling them first, but found some already bad when taken home. How to complain when it could be argued that it might be due to us having left it in the car for too long without air-conditioning? I suspect it was more because of poor control on their part especially when labelling the dates of expiry. I have never tried complaining about milk knowing how useless it can be when complaining.


I had just bought a 2-litre carton of milk (well within a week of expiry) which I did not check on the cap. It had been opened before (judging from the seal later) and gone bad when my wife opened it. There goes Rm12 down the drain!


By the way, I find it amusing (though it is not funny) when I see friends trying their level best in controlling their diets. There is this continual debate on saturated and unsaturated fats and their effects on our health. It used to be convincing but alternating between contradictory reports, by medical and nutritional experts, each claiming the goodness or otherwise of saturated or unsaturated fats. What if saturated fat is not really bad and you have been trying so hard to avoid it? What is even worse is when say, cholesterol is actually needed for our brain and the lack of which has actual harmful effects? When in doubt, MODERATION seems to be the compromising answer!


Sometimes, we do not have a choice when having meals outside our home. We have no control over where the meat or vegetable was from; how they had been reared or grown; how they had been cleaned before cooking, whether fresh or recycled oil had been used, or even whether they had been properly cooked before we put it in our mouth.


As to milk, because condensed creamer is cheaper than condensed milk, we are bound to get the former in our tea or coffee in coffee shops. Same with evaporated creamer and evaporaed milk. So I take it with a pinch of salt when a stall holder said her curry is prepared from evaporated milk instead of coconut milk, which is supposedly healthier.
 


Link

1 comment:

BH said...

I had similar experiences on several occasions. The fresh milk I bought was good when the container was opened but went bad after a couple of days, still well before their expiry dates.