There are several things Americans do differently compared to the rest of the world, and a TikTok user was shocked while visiting a grocery in Germany, where the milk was stored in a rather ‘unusual’ way.
What may come across as a cultural shock to an American is a common practice in most of Europe and there’s nothing wrong with their method of storing milk – we’ll explain why.
American shocked to see how Europeans store milk
If you’ve noticed in movies and shows, Americans always reach for their refrigerator door when they need milk.
However, the same is done quite differently in European countries. A TikTok video shows an American woman’s reaction to seeing milk cartons stored outside the refrigerator in Germany and she couldn’t believe her eyes.
Before jumping to a conclusion, either storage method is safe and has its reasons. Reader’s Digest notes, that the milk Americans use has a shorter shelf life because it’s processed using HTST – High-temperature short-time pasteurization. Therefore, storing it in the refrigerator buys you more time to use it.
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Whereas in Europe, the milk is processed using ultra-heat-treated pasteurization, which includes heating at a higher temperature than the technique used in the US and Canada.
As a result of the extreme heating, the milk can stay fresh for a long duration of up to three months when stored outside the refrigerator.
If you’re someone who likes chilled milk straight out of the refrigerator, that’s a whole different story, regardless of the technique used to process it.
TikTok users react to different storage methods
As always, the different ways of storing milk in two parts of the world have garnered varied reactions under the funny video.
Reacting to the video one American commented: “What?! You guys don’t refrigerate milk?!.”
“I couldn’t believe it too when I went to Europe. I was quite suspicious at first,” commented another.
A third user argued: “Yeah, it’s milk, but not fresh. FRESH milk needs refrigeration.” when another added: “Real milk is always kept in the refrigerator. Period.”
