The biggest factor of food and medicine expiration is not time, but rather oxidation caused by high temperature and moisture.
Safelain Technology is able to indicate oxidation using an isolated pigment, found in beets and 9 other plant families
Current expiration date methodology is obsolete.
It’s also confusing and unhelpful. A pack of medicine left in a car during the summer compared to one stored in a kitchen cabinet with the same expiration date is exposed to very different environmental factors and will expire at different times.
American industries throw out $900 million a year of food
According to the Natural Resources Defense Council and Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, food past labeled expiration dates cost a family of four $1365-2275 per year. Most of it unnecessarily.
Much of this waste is due to the myriad of different and unclear types of expiration dates on food. Expiration dates on food were originally intended to protect consumers by assuring them that their food was fresh. Instead of freshness most consumers take it to mean a guarantee of safety. This is often not the case, and even if it was, it is ineffective due to the fact that temperature and humidity are more important contributors to food spoilage than time since packaging.
*”The Dating Game” NRDC, and Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic
Expired drugs make people sick
Either by prolonging disease by being ineffective or becoming toxic and adding on more symptoms. For example the American Medical Association reports that expired tetracycline can cause kidney disease
Drugs such as antibiotics, insulin and nitroglycerin spoil quickly and can threaten human health. On the other hand, many drugs keep long past their expiration date, especially if kept sealed. Consumers and pharmacies lose money when they throw out deceptively unexpired drugs. A 2008 report by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists reports that hospital CEO’s say that “Drugs offer the single greatest opportunity for cost savings,” but not all pharmacies track which drugs typically expire nor their lost value.
Additionally, improperly disposed drugs can end up in the water supply where they can affect aquatic and terrestrial animals, including humans. People may experience the side effects of drugs contaminating water or they may negatively interact with sick people’s current drug regimen.
Never miss a beet
Learn more about the oxidation process.
See our infographic and understand how this natural process works and how SafeLain use it.
