Expiry Dates

Did you know… About Expiry Dates
Our essential oils and other products that are listed with the Australian Therapeutic Goods
Administration (TGA) demand an expiry date on each label. As with other pharmaceutical
products, expiry dates relate to the period of time after packaging that the product will remain
effective, if properly stored under 30° C.
We also apply expiry dates (or ‘use by’ dates) to other products that are not listed as
therapeutic goods, such as vegetable oils.
Primarily, this relates to the oxidation of compounds in our products. In essential oils,
compounds such as terpenes (limonene, α-pinene, etc.) and aldehydes (lemon-scented neral
and geranial or ‘citral’) will most readily oxidise. In vegetable oils, saturated (very slow),
mono- (slow) and polyunsaturated (faster) fatty acids will oxidise or go rancid.
Oxidation can reduce the therapeutic effectiveness and also make both essential and vegetable
oils more likely to create skin reactions.
Because oxidation is about having a product exposed to air (with oxygen), expiry dates are like
a clock.
When a product is packaged, completely full and is sitting on a cool shelf, it is not exposed to

the air, heat or light (heat and light speed oxidation), the expiry ‘clock’ is ticking very slowly.
When the product is opened and exposed to the air, the ‘clock’ starts ticking more quickly.
Hence, expiry dates are a compromise or average about how an essential oil, for example, will
be stored and used after you purchase it.
Essential oils, vegetable oils, infused oils and creams containing vegetable oils should best be
kept in a cool, dark place.
For essential oils such as citrus oils, our EFA vegetable oils (like Rose Hip oil) and creams (like
Ultimate Base Cream); the coolest, darkest storage is in a refrigerator. Even better, use the
freezer for sensitive essential oils and vegetable oils.
A number of our products, such as vegetable oil-derived glycerine, do not have any ‘use by’
date on the label. This is because these products will last indefinitely, as they will not ‘go off’ or oxidise.