What’s with Expiration Dates?

Expiration dates, also called beyond-use dates or do not sell after dates have been used for several decades, but it hasn’t always been this way. Before transportation, refrigeration, manufacturing processes, and even convenient financial transactions, most perishable items bought by the consumer came from local or reasonably local sources. It was with innovations in factors mentioned above, transportation, etc., that perishable items such as food and drugs could be shipped long distances with the result that consumers did not know who made the products, how they were made, or what was even in the products. When perishables were purchased locally the knowledge of who made the products, how they were made, and the ingredients were readily seen and known.

Much of the shipping of products long distances started in the late 1800’s with the industrial revolution, but it was not until the early part of the 1900’s expiration dates were needed. An interesting urban myth is that the expiration dates on milk products was started by Al Capone – yes, the notorious gangster from Chicago. The story goes that a relative of Mr. Capone became ill by ingesting some spoiled milk and he made sure expiration dates became mandatory, at least in the Chicago area. When Prohibition ended in 1933 Capone was looking for another business to enter and he made sure that “sell by dates” were added to milk products and he was prepared for this process. It is rumored Mr. Capone had a corner on the bottle printing equipment, so either way he would make money.

Today expiration dates or sell by dates are ubiquitous, and we take them for granted because they are required by federal law to be on all perishable consumable products. Manufacturers are responsible for putting these dates on products, as well as lot numbers on all their packaging. The companies test their products by exposing them to heat and moisture, then using predetermined formulas they calculate an estimated time they can guarantee the product will have the stated potency. There is always an element of error in these calculations so companies will err on the side of caution and place expiration dates that are before the product will really expire. This happens to be good for business because then the company may sell more products. For the company it is a win-win situation.

There are many articles written that say medicines can be used past their expiration dates and this may be correct. However, there are a few products that should never be used past their expiration date:

– insulin because it is susceptible to degradation

– oral nitroglycerin because it loses its potency quickly after the bottle has been opened

– vaccines and other injectables because they are subject to quick degradation

– tetracycline-like drugs because if they degrade, the metabolite will become a substance that can damage the kidneys

-liquid antibiotics because of degradation

-eye drops because of the risk of contamination.

My advice and the advice of the FDA is not to use an expired product, even though a product may be perfectly safe, there is always the risk that it is subpotent and/or contaminated.

Another interesting story about expiration dates is the Federal Government spends millions of dollars on drugs stockpiled in the event of emergencies such as a bioterrorism attack or natural disaster. The program is called the Shelf Life Extension Program (SLEP). The government knows where these stockpiles are kept, along with the lot numbers and expiration dates of all these products. When a product is nearing its expiration date the government will inform the manufacturer to test the specific lot the manufacturer keeps to determine if these lots are still usable. If they are still good, then the government will send out stickers to be placed on the stockpiled drugs indicating their new expiration dates. This program has saved the federal government, and us, millions of dollars by not having to buy new drugs to replace these stockpiled drugs. Unfortunately, we as consumers do not have this luxury to ask manufacturers to extend expiration dates.

To answer the original question What’s with Expiration Dates? They are to protect the consumer and give the assurance the product will have the stated potency for the time indicated on the package if stored under the recommended conditions, and because most things we purchase are made or processed far from our communities, we need the information these expiration dates give us.

Stay informed and stay healthy.