Why do common household items (shampoo, toothpaste, medicine, etc.) have expiration dates and what happens once the expiration date passes?
In: Other
some medications can lose a bit of potency over the years and so the expiration date is used to show how long it will be full strength for. Other medications such as liquids might run into other problems such as settling out of solution, tastes going off or even the packaging becoming defunct.
With shampoos and cosmetics, there sometimes isn’t a date, but usually it is a best by date letting people know that defects might occur to long after that date such as smells going off.
With medicine it’s because they lose effectiveness over time. They don’t spoil or anything, just get less effective.
Shampoo and toothpaste are similar – they might separate, losing consistency and usefulness.
Basically mixtures can fail over time. They shouldn’t hurt you but they might not be helpful.
EDIT: Gonna toss an edit as some people have chimed in and provided some really important information that might not get seen
Second edit: looks like I read about tetricycline toxicity in all of this and my brain went “Tylenol”. My bad.
– Looks like antibiotics and prescriptions can fall into the ” don’t take past the date” group too due to over-time toxicity increases
– Some things might grow mold, like opened shampoos
Honestly the Tylenol thing seems really important, as I’m sure nobody would consider it.
Medicine is usually because it loses effectiveness as it gets older. Shampoo and toothpaste etc is usually expiration date for the packaging rather than the product – the manufacturer didn’t verify that the plastic bottle (or whatever) is tight after that date.
Expiration dates are there because a company didn’t check if some product still works exactly the same 5 years after manufacturing. So they just say it expires after a year, which they did check.
Basically nothing happens. There are changes to expiration dates for things you eat to read “use by” if you actually need to use it by a date. “best if used by” dates on the other hand will taste bad long before it’s dangerous. The FDA is recommending that all companies start using the same wording so this isn’t confusing.
I believe for medicine the US government has checked a variety of medicines in long term storage (for emergency use if we all get smallpox or something) if they are still good and basically everything is still potent. Medicines slowly lose potency over the decades. Some lose it faster than others.
(Addition to the other comments)
I agree with other replies. Also though, sometimes it’s just a messed up way companies try to persuade you to trash and repurchase a product you already bought.
The expiration date is means the company tested the product to be stable for that period of time. After that, they are not responsible any more. However, I do work in a cosmetic company and I can tell you that a shampoo can be used well after its expiration date (usually written 3 years). as long as the aspect and appearance looks ok. Even if the aspect is not fine, it won’t hurt if you use it, it just means it wont be as effective anymore.
For medicines i cant comment, nor my area.
Often skincare products don’t have an expiry date but have a symbol that indicates the number of months it should be usable after opening (6, 12, 24, and 36). My understanding is that these products have potential to get contaminated as you use them – sticking your fingers into a jar of moisturizer, for example – and the month guidelines are related to how the product is used and whether it has preservatives.
I accidentally used some toothpaste that was expired by a couple of years. It was extremely unpleasant.
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I’ll tell yall a secret … I’ve been eating out of date butter for the last 3 months .. and I’m still totally fine .. the world is a lie
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