Packaged milk which comes in packets, tetra packs or bottles, comes with an expiry date, beyond which it becomes spoiled and unsafe to consume. But did you know that a 100 years ago milk bottles did not carry an expiry date, and this was changed only in the early decades of the 20th century because of one man, Al Capone, the notorious American gangster who was once the most wanted man in the United States.
Read on to know the fascinating story of how Al Capone changed the packaged milk industry, though not out of the goodness of his heart.
From 1920-1933, a period when alcohol was prohibited in the United States, Al Capone built a flourishing criminal enterprise by black-marketing alcohol during the the time and took over most of the bottling plants in the country to aid in his business. However, when the prohibition ended in 1933, Al Capone knew his illegal liquor business was not profitable anymore as alcohol was now publicly available at every storefront.
Since Al Capone owned several major bottling plants, he decided to foray into the packaged milk business, partly because milk was costlier than liquor at the time, but majorly because he employed a clever trick to ensure that his bottling plants earned big profits. The gangster started a campaign to print ‘Use By’ date on milk bottles, as he knew that he would acquire most bottling contracts if the campaign succeeded, which is exactly what happened.
The second reason behind Al Capone’s campaign to put expiry dates on milk bottles is more popular, but also more unlikely. It is claimed that the gangster was worried that spoilt milk was putting the lives of children and pregnant women risk, and hence started the campaign to put an expiry date on milk bottles. One rumour behind Al Capone’s vociferous campaign for printing expiry dates on milk bottles is that one of his family members had become severely ill after unwittingly consuming sour milk.
While both explanations have their doubters and believers, it seems that Al Capone may indeed be the reason why barely anyone drinks spoilt milk today, primarily because nowadays we have an expiry date on packaged milk.
Although the story about Al Capone being the sole reason behind expiry date being printed on milk bottles is still regarded as an urban legend by many, it is still a fascinating tale because it does have some hard facts such as the infamous gangster owning several bottling plants in the US which he had acquired and used during the Prohibition era.
