Why do common household items (shampoo, toothpaste, medicine, etc.) have expiration dates and what happens once the expiration date passes?

Question

Why do common household items (shampoo, toothpaste, medicine, etc.) have expiration dates and what happens once the expiration date passes?

In: Other

Answer 1

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.