It is difficult to find a food or non-food product that would be stored forever and still fit for consumption. On the packaging or containers of products, manufacturers always indicate the expiration date, but sometimes when buying a product, you can find the inscription "shelf life", and not every consumer knows what is the difference between these concepts.
What is the expiration date
The expiration date refers to the time period after which the product is unusable or unsuitable for consumption. The manufacturer, setting the expiration date, confirms the time frame for the guaranteed quality of the product.
Products for which a mandatory expiration date is set include: perfumery and cosmetics, food products, household chemicals, medicines. On the packaging of a particular product, information about the expiration date can be applied in several ways: "good for", "use before", "good before". In this case, perishable products must be indicated with the shelf life "hour, day, month". For a product that is suitable for use up to 3 months - "day, month". If the expiration date is more than 3 months, then the information "month, year" is applied.
It is not recommended to use products with an expired shelf life, especially if they are food or medicines. This can cause allergic reactions, health problems and poisoning, and even lead to irreversible consequences.
What is the shelf life
This term means the period during which the product, subject to the storage rules, does not lose its properties, which must comply with technical and regulatory documents. After the expiry of the shelf life, the food product may remain usable, but its quality characteristics may be slightly reduced.
Basically, the storage period is set for types of food products that do not require a clearly limited shelf life, for example, vegetables and fruits. The shelf life is counted from the date of manufacture, and is indicated on the package or container in two ways: "store until" with the date, or "store for" with the decoding of the number of days, months, years.
The quality of the goods depends not only on the correctly established storage period, but also on the properly created conditions for this. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the main factors that contribute to the deterioration of the goods - these are high humidity, frost or, conversely, too high an air temperature, direct sunlight.
Despite the fact that at first glance these concepts have a lot in common, you should carefully study the expiration or storage dates indicated on the packaging and understand what their difference is. This is the key to a successful high-quality purchase of a suitable product, and will exclude the use of spoiled products that are hazardous to health.
