Shelf Life

Shelf life is a term used by the public – mostly due to shopping in grocery stores and comparing shelf lives of products to get the freshest and longer lasting product. Yet, the real definition of shelf life is the amount of time the product can sit on the shelf before it becomes deteriorated, expired, or unusable, under normal and predicted circumstances. Most products are fine for consumption after the shelf life expiration date, but the quality is no longer guaranteed. Thus when products on warehouse shelves hit their shelf life expiration dates, stock is rotated, and the expired products are thrown out or returned to the manufacturer.