Expiry Dates – The How and Why

I think this is a question that we have all asked at least once – Can I still use this expired product?

It is 3am and your child wakes with a fever; you reach in to the medicine cabinet and pull out a product 6 months past its expiry date. Do you still use it? Is it safe? I mean, I always eat cereal that is past its expiry date and it hasn’t hurt me yet and the other day while out for coffee I heard the barrister tell a patron that coffee beans past their expiry date are fine just not as fresh. Could this be the same for medicines? Do they lose freshness?

Is the expiry date on drug and natural health products an arbitrary number decided by the manufacturer? No it isn’t, well okay honestly, in the beginning it may well be. When a manufacturer applies to Health Canada for a Drug Identification Number (DIN) or a Natural Product Number (NPN), they consider all of the information available on their product at that time to determine an appropriate expiry period. For most product types, research on similar products has provided a clear indication of the length of time that a product will remain both safe and effective.  If there is little to no information published on this type of product however, the manufacturer will make a conservative “guess” of how long the product will last based on the research and testing that they have performed. Don’t worry though, this “guess” doesn’t last long, because then they have to prove it!

It is a requirement of the Food and Drug and the Natural Health Product regulations that products undergo a stability testing program. As part of this program, the manufacturer tests for many aspects of product quality including tests on product strength, preservative strength, colour and odour changes and any interactions between the product and its packaging. The results of stability studies determine whether an expiry period must be shortened or, as in most cases, can be lengthened.

So if the stability results show that a product is safe and effective for 5 years, the expiry date will be 5 years from the date of manufacture; right? Well… not necessarily. If you are reading this as a consumer you may be surprised by this, but if you are a business owner you may know exactly where I am going with this. If I sell a product to you and you keep it on your shelf feeling entirely confident that is safe to use for 5 years, I am losing money. After all, if I said that it was only good for 2 years then maybe you would have thrown the leftover out and bought a new bottle by now. Brings to mind those Stride gum commercials, doesn’t it? Long lasting products are not always the best money makers.

Okay, so now you may be asking yourself, “Why don’t manufacturers make the expiry period really short then; why not 1 year?” Simple, they have to give you time to buy it and to use some of it. If you end up throwing out an almost full bottle of product because it has past its expiry date, it may make you think that you really didn’t need it on your shelf at all, I mean what a waste; and if the product expires while sitting on the store shelf waiting to be purchased, that is a really poor money maker!

Setting an expiry date takes a careful combination of determining how long the product actually remains safe and effective, how long it will take to sell the product, and how soon you want the consumer to replace the product.  

So what happens to a product when it “expires”? Many things could happen to drugs and natural health products over time. It could be as simple as a colour change; some products start to look dull over time. Although a change in colour is unlikely to kill you, it may be an indicator of another issue such as loss of potency.

Potency, or strength, of a product often decreases over time until it is no longer effective as a treatment. Could loss of potency kill you? Depends, was the active ingredient in the product what was keeping you alive in the first place? If it is a headache remedy that we are talking about, you may be okay with a weakened dose, but if it is your blood pressure medicine, don’t take the chance.

A real danger with expired products occurs if the preservative in the product has lost effectiveness. Preservative may not be exactly what you are envisioning right now; I do not mean that the product has lost freshness and is a little soft; I mean that the product may no longer be microbe free. The preservative is what blocks microbial contaminants from growing in a product. I know, pretty gross; this is especially pertinent when thinking about cosmetics. Expired cosmetics can be dangerous; spreading bacteria on your face is not recommended.  

Prescription products should not be used past their expiry date; some prescription products actually break down into toxic substances overtime. This is a chance you should not take. In fact, it is recommended that you think carefully and consider whether the risk of not taking the product outweighs the risk of taking it before using any products past their expiry date. The expiry date is there for a reason. If you have consumed an expired product and are worried about the consequences you can call the contact number listed on the product, contact a doctor or pharmacist or call Telehealth Ontario for more information.