In: Nursing
. What do you surmise a shelf life to be?
Shelf life is the length of time that a commodity may be stored without becoming unfit for use, consumption, or sale.
Shelf life is the period of time, from the date of manufacture, that a drug product is expected to remain within its approved product specification while stored under defined conditions. Shelf life is typically expressed in units of months, i.e. 24 months, 36 months, to a maximum of 60 months.
Nearly all chemical reactions can occur at normal temperatures (although different reactions proceed at different rates). However most reactions are accelerated by high temperatures, and the degradation of foods and pharmaceuticals is no exception. The same applies to the breakdown of many chemical explosives into more unstable compounds.
Just as temperature increases speed up reactions, temperature decreases reduce them.
Passive barrier packaging can often help control or extend shelf life by blocking the transmission of deleterious substances, like moisture or oxygen, across the barrier.