On drinking from the carton

Is it okay to drink juice straight from the carton/bottle if I live alone? Everything is pasteurized, right?

Drinking juice straight outta the carton is a classic I-live-alone habit.  Other examples include: Never Put Away Clean Dishes™, Always Be Naked™, Poopin’ With the Door Open™. My favorite one is eating tuna from the can with a fork. Meow.

Straight outta carton! Crazy motherfucka called Orange Juice…

There are two areas of hypothetical concern when it comes to drinking straight from the carton. One is viruses. Since you live alone and there’s no one else sipping from the same carton, this won’t be a problem (...because presumably you already have anything that your lips are transmitting via the carton.)

The second is bacteria. You mentioned pasteurization, which means your juice is starting off with a clean microbiological slate. In the course of sipping, bacteria will slosh from your lips into the juice, but refrigeration prevents this bacteria from growing to anything close to harmful levels. So: no worries there, either. 

The only caveat I’d offer is that you should try to finish the carton within 10 days of opening it. This limits the timeline for any bacteria growth that could happen, I dunno, if you’re prone to keeping the juice out next to your gamer chair while you put in a 16-hour shift playing Fortnite. But given your direct form of consumption, I’m going to guess that you’re polishing off a carton every day or two.

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