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does saline really go bad?


Trigger Mike

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Or bottled water?

 

Most expiration dates are the result of New Jersey state law and not the result of any serious product evaluation. NJ law says that expiration dates must not be more that 2 years beyond packaging and rather than ship products as NJ and not NJ, companies just label them for NJ and ship. And the companies do not mind if you throw it out earlier than needed.

 

I think it was a Seinfeld show that emphasized the obsession. My kids went through my pantry and took out everything "expired." I went through the things they wanted me to discard and put 75% back into the pantry.

 

from How to Geek:

 


We’ve heard more than a few people crack jokes about how there is an expiration date on their bottle of water; after all water doesn’t really expire in the sense that perishable goods spoil. We’ve also heard others try to explain the date stamped on the bottle with explanations like perhaps the plastic breaks down over time, and the expiration date is more concerned with the age of the bottle than the state of the water.

While it’s certainly true that certain plastic types will degrade over time, the real reason water has an expiration date has nothing to do with water going stale nor with leaching plastic and everything to do with New Jersey.

Back in 1987, the New Jersey legislature passed a law requiring all food products sold in the state to carry an expiration date of two years or less from the date of manufacture. One of the side effects of the law was that products that previously carried no expiration date (like water bottles) were then required to have one. Rather than deal with the logistics of only stamping some of their bottles and then ensuring they were separated and shipped only to New Jersey, bottled water producers simply started stamping all of their water with a two year expiration date to comply with the new law, thereby, avoiding any sorting hassles or potential legal problems resulting from shipping unlabeled bottles into the state.

 

Do what you want but I won't rely on the NJ legislature to tell me what is right and what is wrong.

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Howdy,

I would think that if the product was PACKAGED outside of New Jersey they

wouldn't have to pay attention.

Isnt that a bit of the old taxation without representation going on?

And many don't have a real expiration date, that is they have a BEST BY date.

I called one time and got some coupons for products at no charge.

So when in doubt call the mfg.... I wonder what the expiration date is on Rugers?

Best

CR

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I think as a GENERAL rule exp. dates are mostly designed to make you buy more stuff. I have NOT been able to convince my DW of that. Back in the day, canned goods had no expiration date. Prescription drugs as in pills and capsule had 6-8 years. Now canned goods and pills are supposedly only good for 2-3 years. I don't pay them much mind within reason. An open bottle of eye drops 10 years expired I'd probably pass on. A can of green beans 6 months out of date is another matter. As to you question, what kind of saline? Eye drops I'd be a little more cautious about, or nasal saline from when I had the flu. Saline is usually cheap, so it may be better to err on the side of safety. I had a customer once was going to China and was fretting over $5 for some fresh amoxicillin. Really!?!?! If you can afford a trip to China I wouldn't sweat much over 5 clams for some fresh meds!

JHC

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