CleanSmart customers often ask us about the shelf life of our HOCL products. According to the dictionary, “shelf life” means “the period of time during which a material may be stored and remain suitable for use” or “the period of time during which something lasts.”
Health Canada Requirements
Before addressing shelf life, let’s step back and look at regulations governing cleaning products within Canada. If a cleaning company wants to make a claim about one of its products as a disinfectant, it must satisfy Health Canada regulations. These are rigorous regulations, and any disinfectant product introduced to the Canadian market must undergo a thorough vetting. Included in this vetting is any claim made about shelf life.
Health Canada says shelf life means, ”the period, beginning on the day on which a biocide is packaged for sale to consumers, during which the biocide will, when stored appropriately, retain without any appreciable deterioration its stability and any other qualities claimed for it by the holder of the market authorization for it.” Click here.
CleanSmart Cleaner Products
At CleanSmart, we have two types of HOCL products: 1) those regulated by Health Canada; and 2) those that meet Health Canada guidelines. Products regulated by Health Canada as a disinfectant / sanitizer simply means we can make certain claims about our disinfectant / sanitizer on our product label.
At CleanSmart, our disinfectant / sanitizer products have all satisfied Health Canada requirements. In order to make a claim about our shelf life lasting a minimum of one year, we performed a one-year shelf life study and submitted it to Health Canada. Once Health Canada was satisfied, they granted us the authority to claim that our disinfectant / sanitizer products have an expected shelf life of one year.
Implications of Expiry Dates
Although CleanSmart can only make a claim of a one-year shelf life on its disinfectant / sanitizer products, that doesn’t mean our HOCL products must be discarded after one year. And here’s why. HOCL can be used for other purposes beyond just as a disinfectant.
As a manufacturer, we know we produce a premium-grade hypochlorous acid (HOCL) product with a long shelf life. As part of our manufacturing process, we maintain a rigorous testing and sampling process of all our production runs. Recently, we tested one sample from a production run performed over four years ago and found it to still have enough strength to be effective for many applications. In other words, for the many applications beyond disinfecting / sanitizing, CleanSmart HOCL products could have an effective shelf life much longer than one year.
For more information, contact us.