What is expiry date and why is it important in a product?

Manufacturing date and expiry date

What is expiry date?

Expiry date or expiration date is an end date of a product or a date in which a product will perish or will be out of its time. It is written in a product to tell a consumer when a product will no longer be safe to be consumed.

To know an expiry date of a product you have to find a word "Exp:" or "BB:" which is followed by a date in which a product will no longer be supposed to be consumed. "Exp:" is a short for Expiry date and "BB:" is a short for Best before but they all mean the same. Some products may give a short statement which tells where an expiry date is located for example, See an expiry date at the bottle neck or See an expiry date at the bottom.

A product may show expiry date in form of Day, Month and Year (dd/mm/yy) just like Exp:01/01/2025, or may show only month and year (mm/yy) like Exp:01/2025 or Exp:january/2025.

In most cases, an expiry date is shown together with a manufacturing date, you can find a manufacturing date above or before an expiration date. By using a manufacturing date and expiry date you can calculate a lifespan or shelf life of a product.

Is an expiration date important?

Yes, expiry date is very important for us to know if a product is out of time or not. Using a product which has expired is dangerous to our healths that's why we are highly recommended to check an expiry date before buying a product.

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