Expiry date on test strips

Just like any number of products, diabetic test strips have an expiration date. The manufacturer has determined the expiration date and I believe that the expiration date is set at 3 months after you open your strips. This information is listed on the label of your package. The label will also tell you that the test strips should not be exposed to extremes in temperature such as hot and cold nor should the be exposed to high humidity conditions or light for long periods of time. Extreme conditions for prolonged periods of time cause changes to occur in the chemical composition of the test strips. With extreme exposures you might see some drying and cracking of the strip or perhaps discolorations. This makes the strips unreliable to measure anything accurately. By the way, strip decomposition can occur before the expiration shows up. So, keep an eye on your strips.

The expiration date is set such that the strip no longer performs with 100 percent accuracy. This is based on the average shelf-life of the chemicals and then taking 50 percent of that time. This is the expiration date. Now, you might wonder, well the test strip could possibly be good for 3 more months since the expiration date is set at 3 months. Well, some people think of it that way and continue to use their strips way past the expiration date. The strips have been tested and indeed they can be used well beyond their expiration date. If you are in doubt, there is a test solution you can get from the drug store to test a few strips to see if they are okay. If these strips test fairly consistently, you can use them. You realize this doesn't actually tell you about the strips you didn't test. The ones you tested have to be thrown away. But hey, I think that sounds reasonable.