Many people don’t know: Bottled water also has a shelf life! Is it okay to drink “expired” water?

Nowadays, for the sake of convenience, many people choose to buy a lot of bottled water and put them at home or in the office. When they are thirsty, they can just unscrew a bottle and drink it. However, have you noticed that these bottled waters, whether expensive or cheap, have a shelf life.

The shelf life of two types of mineral water bottles. Image source: taken by myself

Some people say that the "shelf life" is for the plastic bottle, not the water, and that water will never expire. Is this true?

The picture comes from the Internet

The expiration date on the bottled water label is not on the plastic bottle, but on the water

According to the definition in my country's standard GB7718-2011 "National Food Safety Standard General Rules for Pre-packaged Food Labeling", the shelf life is:

The period during which prepackaged food maintains its quality under the storage conditions specified on the label.

That is to say, the shelf life on all packaged foods refers to the food itself, not the packaging material. Therefore, the statement that "the shelf life of bottled water is the plastic bottle" is obviously a substitution of the shelf life concept.

The shelf life of food is determined by food producers and operators based on food raw materials, production processes, packaging forms and storage conditions. Usually, manufacturers will conduct stability tests, or they can determine the shelf life based on existing research results and literature, combined with the situations that may be encountered during food production and circulation. In addition, it is also possible to refer to or adopt the existing shelf life of the same or similar foods to specify the shelf life and storage environment parameters of a certain food. The shelf life of different bottled water/beverages will be different, which is entirely the manufacturer's independent behavior and is in compliance with regulations.

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You may find it strange that bottled water is obviously sealed, so how come the water inside also has a shelf life?

This is because food will slowly change during transportation and storage due to microorganisms, oxidation, the activity of its own enzymes, environmental changes, etc. For packaged water, microorganisms are a major problem.

Regularly produced and standard-compliant mineral water bottles are also safe

Although we already know that the "shelf life" on the bottled water label refers to the water, does the mineral water bottle have an expiration date? Regardless of what kind of water or beverage it is, as long as it is in a plastic bottle, it is almost always made of PET plastic.

PET, the full name of PolyethyleneTerephthalate, is one of the most widely used plastics. It has good ductility, high transparency and good safety. It is often used to make beverage bottles or other food packaging materials. PET bottles account for about 70% of the market share of liquid packaging and are the main material.

If you look closely at the bottom of a plastic bottle, you will usually see a triangular-shaped number "1", which means plastic No. 1, which is PET.

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The plastic PET used to make beverage bottles must also comply with the corresponding national food safety standards. For example, PET plastic bottles used for food packaging are required to undergo corresponding "migration tests" to ensure that when the PET plastic bottles are filled with the tested food, the harmful substances that migrate into the food in the bottle will not exceed the safety limit. As long as it meets the standards, it is safe.

Bottled water is expired, can I still drink it?

Many people regard the shelf life as the safety period of food, and believe that food that has passed the shelf life cannot be eaten. In fact, food within the "shelf life" is just the manufacturer's promise to consumers that it has the best taste and safety. From the perspective of taste and safety, food within the shelf life is of course the best, but expired food can also be eaten provided that the food storage conditions meet the standards, the packaging is intact, and the color, aroma and taste have not changed. Take bottled water as an example. It has been filtered, disinfected, and then sealed during the production process. It does not have any nutrients and is very durable in storage. The Michigan government of the United States once issued the "Bottled Water Storage Instructions", which said: As long as it is properly handled and preserved, bottled water can be stored almost indefinitely. Therefore, as long as the bottle is not broken, bottled water is generally drinkable even if it is expired. If it is really broken, you don't have to worry about whether you can drink it, it is estimated that it has leaked out. However, there is a special situation, that is, bottled water that has been soaked in floods, even if it looks well sealed, it should not be drunk.

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It is also important to emphasize that although food that has passed its expiration date is not necessarily inedible, this does not mean that businesses can sell food that has passed its expiration date. my country's Food Safety Law explicitly states that it is prohibited to sell or donate expired (exceeding the expiration date on the pre-packaged) food. Therefore, food that has passed its expiration date cannot be sold.

References

[1] Food Safety Law

[2] GB7718-2011 National Food Safety Standard General Rules for Prepackaged Food Labelling

[3] GB9685-2008 “Hygienic Standard for the Use of Additives in Food Containers and Packaging Materials”: ​​stipulates the use principles, permitted types of additives, scope of use, maximum usage amount, specific migration amount or maximum residual amount and other restrictive requirements for all additives used in food containers and packaging materials.

[4] GB13113-1991 Hygienic Standard for Polyethylene Terephthalate Moulded Products for Food Containers and Packaging Materials: Applicable to containers and films made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin for food packaging by injection, drawing and blowing processes. They can be used to hold beverages, food seasonings, edible oils and fats, and as composite materials for composite food packaging bags.

[5] GB9685-2016 National Food Safety Standard Standard for the use of additives in food contact materials and articles

https://www.michigan.gov/flintwater/-/media/Project/Websites/flintwater/documents/Chinese/Storing-Bottled-Water_Chinese.pdf

[6] "Research Report on the Recycling of PET Beverage Packaging in my country" was released. The recycling rate of PET beverage bottles in my country exceeds 94% [J]. Beverage Industry, 2020, 23(04): 79-80.

Author: Ruan Guangfeng, Deputy Director of Kexin Food and Health Information Exchange Center

Audit｜Li Zongpeng Senior Engineer, National Light Industry Plastics Product Quality Center