Why does mineral water that has “trickled through mountains for centuries” go out of date next year?

Answer 1

LOL! Yes, that always makes me laugh too. The truth is that by law all food and drink products have to have a Use/Sell By Date. The date on bottled water is usually more governed by the expected degradation of the plastic bottle rather than the actual water going off. A lot of things in law are governed by precedent and plastic bottles would have established this by being cheaper to produce and more prolific, therefore glass bottles would have had to follow suit. Its ridiculous isn't it? Health and safety gone MAD!!

Answer 2

There are a couple reasons for this. In order from most likely to least likely:

1. A few states (and possibly the federal US govt) require an expiration date to be placed on the water, even if it will not "go bad.

2. Some believe that the taste of the water changes. Some believe that the plastic bottle adds a taste to the water if it is left unopened for several months.

3. There can still be bacteria and other pathogens in the water that remain dormant, instead of dead, in the water. Even with current sanitation procedures, and the source of the water, it is still possible for minimal amount of bacteria to survive in the water.

Overall, water has an indefinite shelf life. Really, the manufacturers are putting a "Best By" date that goes along with the flavor of the water. There hasn't been much information recorded on ill-health effects of water drank past the expiration date.

So, it is mostly likely a combination of items one and two that there are expirations/sell by/best by dates on water bottles.

Answer 3

I work in a waste and or drinking water testing lab that works closely with the EPA. During a blind study a while back, water that was fairly newly bottled was tested against the same brand that had expired. There were no changes in biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, minerals, metals, or microbiological inclusions. We did this study just to try to find out why water would expire. The only thing that we could find is that it is possible that the water's flavor could change because of the different inclusions in the water changing minutely because of light being able to penetrate the container.

Other than that, it's a marketing scheme to get us to buy more water.

Answer 4

You know what, I never thought about that! It's actually an arbitrary date, since -- if left unopened -- it won't go bad. But the FDA and other regulators say a date has to be on every beverage and food for sale. So the water companies set up a 2-year expiration from the date of bottling. If you store it unopened in a cool, dry place, it will last forever. But, once the seal is broken, bacteria and algae can grow in it. Good to know!

Answer 5

It's not actually trickled for centuries has it?
I mean it's not the same water recirculated year after year!

Answer 6

This question has appeared from time to time on Y!A, but so far nobody has considered this:

That water has been in a clean, bug-free environment for all those years until we extracted it. From then on, it is subject to all the contamination on our present earth. I'm all for drinking from the spring, but I prefer to drink it FRESH from the source!

Answer 7

Because the toxic fumes from the plastic bottles leach into the water

Answer 8

Because putting it in plastic shortens the life of it, but it has to be packaged in something! It is also done to ensure some sort of stock rotation in the shop.

Answer 9

because it wanted to live when it was in the stream but now that it is caught in a bottle it doesnt want to last anymore

Answer 10

simple,because its been processed.untouched but processed all the same.