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bottled water -shelf life?

30K views 19 replies 15 participants last post by  IceDemon 
#1 ·
How long can one expect bottled water to be drinkable if stored in a cool and dark area?
 
#4 ·
We rotate water bottles on a yearly basis. Its not the water or the air in the bottle but rather the plastic leaching into the water. Heat and UV accelerate this process greatly. I am not sure you will get an actual date past expiration based in fact. We decided on a year. Have we drank ones older, sure but we try to practice rotation.
 
#5 ·
I'm kinda curious. Why do you think water has a shelf life? I hear this question on here every now and then. The water in a lake, river, ocean, etc. doesn't have a shelf life, so why would store bought water have a shelf life? As long as you aerate it, it's good forever.
 
#6 ·
Well in water bottles there's no way to aerate it. To the OP, I would look into BPA free containers for long time storage.
 
#8 ·
While serving in the Navy we put an aircraft carrier (USS Yorktown) into dry dock. An old carrier. There was life rafts around the flight deck that we unpacked and tested. I think one of them held air when inflated. Ha! In the survival kits packed inside was cans of water with dates from WW II. We opened some and tasted. It was really flat tasting but ok. There was also four packs of cigaretts. They had turned real brown but being smokers then we gave them a try. We all thought our lungs were shutting down. Never had anything like it before or since.
 
#13 ·
Expiration dates are a farce concerning water! I believe this began in NJ when some lawmakers decided water is food and should have expiration dates. I dont think it is federaly mandated but most manufacturers put dates on water for liability purposes more than anything. Water itself does not go bad, it just might get contaminated depending on how it's stored!
 
#12 ·
I asked the same question awhile ago and actually sent an email to a bottled water company about it asking how long their bottled water would last. It happened to be manufactured by Pepsi and below is the response that I got.

Dear Sir,

Thank you for taking the time to contact us at Pepsi-Cola.

At Pepsi, all of our products have a "Best taste date", which is very different from an expiration date often found on perishable items such as dairy and meat products. Our "Best taste date" is a self-imposed indicator that has been listed on the underside of our cans, shoulders of bottles and sides of paperboard wraps since 1994. We provide this information simply to help ensure that our products are consumed at their absolute best flavor.

In fact, our Scientific and Regulatory Affairs Department has provided us with information on product safety regarding this topic. Their research indicates that when beverages have passed their "Best taste date", while the flavors can degrade, the only effect this would have on our beverages might be an off-taste, which would not be harmful.

I hope this information has been helpful. If we can be of further assistance to you, please don't hesitate to call us at our Consumer Relations Office, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time at (1) 800-433-2652.

Thanks again for taking the time to contact us.


Consumer Relations Representative
 
#20 ·
Good Grief.
Didn't anyone bother to even read my post, or do you just not have basic comprehension skills.
I thought these boards were for sharing factual information for preppers, I guess I was wrong.

Bottled water is NOT sterile. If you don't know what that means, then look it up.
It still contains LIVE bacteria and microorganisms.
The problem isn't the O2 "going bad" it's the microorganisms in it that make you sick.
The bottler only has to make sure that the level of microorganisms at the time of bottling are at or below regulation standards.
Those organisms won't just be taking a holiday from reproducing in the bottle over long periods of time.

If you want to believe a canned form letter from Pepsi or what your grand-pappy did rather than the information from a health organization with a dozen links including microbiology testing labs, then go ahead.
If you are too damn lazy to spend a few seconds treating old water before drinking it, you deserve the possibility of getting ill.

Anyway, I'm tired of all of the crap and misinformation on these boards, and people just ignoring factual information for tinfoil-hat "well my grand-pappy did it and he didn't die" posts. These boards are totally becoming useless droves of useless and often dangerous information. Good bye.
Probably because you haven't really given any facts. Everything has microorganisms. It's rather water has bad microorganisms and how much. Even you quoted
"Bottled water is usually disinfected to remove harmful microorganisms but this treatment is not intended to sterilize the water."
That says removed, not lowered. The link you give has
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/securit/facts-faits/faqs_bottle_water-eau_embouteillee-eng.php#a14
It doesn't say the reason it's recommend to replace every year (could be from not being aerated). You don't even drink sterile water out of the faucet. No one drinks sterile water normally (unless it's distilled).

So, yes you can get bottled water that has enough bad organisms that are bad for you. But no more then drinking it as soon as it gets off the shelf or drinking it from the faucet. Actually, drinking water with some bad microorganisms is good for (as long as it's not enough to make you sick) to help your body become immune from it.

What facts do you have that shows there are more bad organisms in water after a year or two then when you first buy it. Or is that something you assumed instead of providing a fact? It seems your assuming stuff instead of giving definite facts yourself. I'd like to see some facts that water is bad for you because of bad organisms after water being stored for a certain amount of time.
 
#19 ·
HEH HEH.......I asked this very question and I was ridiculed by some Brilliant poster on this Site saying that "critical thinking is an undervalued skill"


The general concensus seems to be the UV factor if your plastic water filled bottles are exposed to direct sunlight...........................AND the plastic may possibly leach into the water.


If you have to depend on your plastic water bottles,filled with water you'll more than likely be in a Post sh!t hit the fan situation and at that point there wont be too many people worrying about .00001 % of the plastic bottle having been absorbed into the water..................Just my 0P here.:cool:
 
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