Eli5: How come hand sanitizer has an expiration date? What exactly happens once it goes past it?
In: Chemistry
I believe the plastic starts to seep into the product. Same with water. Obviously water doesn’t expire but the plastic it’s packaged in could, in a sense.
Expiration dates are a government requirement. They do not indicate when/if something goes bad.
They even require expiration dates on bottled water and that NEVER goes bad.
Always assumed it was because of the high alcohol content needed to make sanitizer effective mean that it was also prone to evaporation and thus the alcohol content would go down over time eventually making it ineffective
I work in an fda regulated device industry. Fda requires some data on shelf life or usable life as a regular question as part of the patient advocacy for safety and effectiveness. Even products we thought have no practical shelf life (50 years) we had to list one.
For new products that haven’t been around for real time aging tests they will accept accelerated aging but then they expect real time results later.
The expiration date of a hand sanitizer probably has much in common with an expiration date of a bottled water. In the second case, printed date shows the tested durability of the plastic bottle, after which it slowly begins to decompose and let microplastic go to the water, then to your stomach.
Or it could be that alcohol just evaporates (no container is hermetic enough, unless its vacuum sealed) and after expiration date, it could just be not as effective (for example, the alcohol content would be less than 60%)
They turn into a tasty treat. Tastes sorta like sugar water, and the consistency is *perfect* for spreading on toast.
Hand sanitizer has an expiration date, because manufacturers would not be able to sell it without one. [Here](https://www.fda.gov/drugs/pharmaceutical-quality-resources/expiration-dates-questions-and-answers) are the requirements from the FDA. [Here](https://www.fsai.ie/faq/shelf_life/best_before_and_use_by.html) are the requirements in Europe.
The manufacturer has to test the claim made on the bottle label (x% germicidal). They have to be able to support that claim [as part of FDA requirements to market that product](https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/your-hand-sanitizer-fdas-list-products-you-should-not-use). So they run [stability studies](https://www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-criminal-investigations/inspection-technical-guides/expiration-dating-and-stability-testing-human-drug-products) to determine how long it will be effective for.
If your product goes past the expiration date, the manufacturer can not support the quality of the product. You can [submit complaints to the FDA](https://www.fda.gov/food/resources-you-food/industry-and-consumer-assistance-cfsan) if the product is not effective within the expiration date. Those may end up in the [FAERS database](https://www.fda.gov/drugs/questions-and-answers-fdas-adverse-event-reporting-system-faers/fda-adverse-event-reporting-system-faers-public-dashboard).
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