Packaged foods must indicate their expiration date.
Expiration is the expiration , cessation or expiration of something. When an element expires, it ceases to exist or loses its integrity.
For example: “Don't eat that dessert! It has already been a month since its expiration date” , “Next week the contract will expire and then I will have to move” , “Experts affirm that the expiration of this type of machines will occur in the short term” .
What is expiration
Expiration is linked to the verb expire , which refers to spoiling or disappearing due to the passage of time . That which expires suffers the loss of its qualities or its condition.
It is common for the idea of expiration to be used with respect to the limit established by the authorities to consume or use a product. This date should be mentioned on the packaging in question so that people know until when they can use the contents. Medicines and food products, among many other items, have an expiration date.
If we buy a box of hamburgers whose expiration date is August 5, 2027 , for example, the food will be suitable for consumption until that day. After the expiration date, the burgers in question may be rotten.
Beyond the dates
Although certain products should never be consumed after their expiration date, such as dairy and meat, it is known that this limit is indicated to minimize the risk of poisoning and that it does not define with absolute precision the moment at which the food will be put in poor condition.
For this reason, many people eat certain products several days after their expiration, and are not worried at all. In the case of industrial bread, for example, it is easy to know if it has gone bad since in this case it usually has greenish mold ; A practice to improve its flavor just before this happens is to bake it for a few minutes, which makes it crispy and eliminates any excess moisture that may have accumulated.
Restaurant chains and supermarkets usually throw away their products once they have reached the expiration date, and that is when low-income people come to their doors to collect food that, in their opinion, can still be consumed without no risk .
Debit and credit cards have expiration dates.
Other uses of the term expiration
In the field of law , expiration refers to the extinction of an action due to the passage of time . This is a period established by law to exercise a power: “The expiration of criminal instructions has not yet occurred,” “The expiration period to appeal is quite long,” “These rights do not expire.”
This concept also applies to credit and debit cards, services that must be renewed every certain number of years. The expiration date of a card is one of its most important data, so much so that in any commercial transaction it must be indicated so that the seller can verify its validity before confirming the process. Since renewing a credit card involves granting new numbers in addition to the card itself, there is no point in trying to use an expired one to make a purchase.
In the field of computing, expiration is also important, especially in the sessions that the user establishes with a computer when they enter their personal data. For example, when we log in to our email platform, a session is opened that gives us the right to use certain services, but it must expire at some point to prevent anyone from accessing our mailbox if we forget to disconnect.