Do you know why mineral water bottles have expiry date?

[Deepak Kiran]

Coming to the drinking water, on several occasions when it's not possible to carry your own water, you tend to buy a water bottle. But, have you ever noticed that the water bottles carry an expiration date? This expiration date misleads everyone and makes one wonder if the water can really expire or if the water is safe to drink if the expiration period has gone? Here’s all you need to know about the water expiration date.

The reality of packaged water​

However, when it comes to packaged water, it can actually expire and the reason behind it is the plastic bottle, in which it is stored. In general, there is a 2 years time window of water expiration when kept in a plastic bottle. When the packaged bottle is exposed to sunlight or heat, the polyethene terephthalate (PET) present in the plastic bottle start leaching into the water, which can make it hazardous for the health along with the taste as well.

Another reason why the packaged water does expire is the fact that most of the companies selling packaged water use the same machinery, which is used for packaging the sodas and other such beverages. Such packaging does have an expiration date

Health issues caused by expired water​

When you drink water from a water bottle, whose expiration date has passed, the water can cause reproductive issues, neurological problems while damaging the immune system. Also, in some cases, there can be some odours in such water as well.

 

[Deepak Kiran]

Yes, Bottled Water Expires—Here’s Why It Matters​

You probably always have some water bottles on hand—maybe you even stocked up on big packs of bottled water during the beginning of COVID-19 to make sure you didn’t run out. But it turns out that bottled water actually won’t last forever. When’s the last time you checked the expiration date on your bottled water?

That’s right! Bottled water DOES expire. While the reason dairy products or eggs have a sell-by date is pretty self-explanatory, you might be surprised that bottled water comes with a time stamp, too. And it’s an expiration you shouldn’t ignore.


As it turns out, it isn’t the water quality you should be worried about. It’s the plastic that the water comes packaged in: usually polyethylene terephthalate (PET) for retail bottles and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) for water cooler jugs. These plastics “will leach into the liquid of the bottle once expired or especially when exposed to heat, including sunlight and hot cars or storage trucks,” according to Amy Leigh Mercee, holistic health expert. “The toxicity contained in the plastic material enters the water.”


And not only does this affect the taste of the water, it could create a serious health hazard. “It is disruptive to the endocrine system, causing reproductive symptoms, various cancers, [and] neurological problems, and damaging the immune system.” The porous plastic can also cause the water to accumulate odors and other nasty accompaniments from outside. (A good reason to find out how often you should be washing your refillable water bottle, too.)


So how do those expiration dates keep you safe from this? “Many bottled water companies print a standard two-year expiration date,” Mercree says, but admits that this is a rather arbitrary number. There’s no precise way to predict exactly when the water in the bottle is no longer good to drink, but “it stands to reason that the longer the bottle has been in circulation, the more likely it was exposed to heat or has started to generally degrade,” Mercree says, hence the “standard” two years.

But she warns that the quality of the water can depend on several different factors. “Even a brand new plastic bottle that sat in a hot delivery truck for hours or more can already have adverse and toxic compounds present in the water even when first delivered to the grocery store,” she says. But, as a general rule, as long as you drink it reasonably soon after you buy it, don’t expose it long-term to intense heat or keep it too close to any household chemicals, and refrigerate it once it’s open, your bottled water should be perfectly safe. You should also be keeping an eye out for these other non-food items you didn’t know had expiration dates.