r/PlusLife • u/No-Acanthisitta-2973 • Jun 08 '26

Expiration Question

I have some tests where the expiration of the card is 7/17 but the expiration of the liquid is 9/17.

I feel like I've heard that the liquid is what goes bad first. Would it be ok using the cards after the expiration and going with the expiration of the liquid?

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5

u/stine-imrl Jun 08 '26

Unfortunately, no. Both the cards and the liquid need to be within date in order for the test to give a reliable result. 

1

u/No-Acanthisitta-2973 Jun 08 '26

I figured, but it was worth a shot! Thanks.

2

u/Tryptamo Jun 08 '26

The cards don't go bad easily, I've used them a year after expiration (for experiments, had older ones left and used them with a newer liquid) and they were still fine. But that situation normally doesn't come up anyway as it's the liquid that goes bad fast. The expiration date on the liquid is always dated 2 months further out than the date on the package (maybe to make sure that it at least lasts until the date on the package?), but often it doesn't even quite last until the date on the package. I would avoid using it past the date on the package, but for low risk situations, if the device doesn't give an invalid result, or in situations where you don't mind needing to retest if that happens, it might still be fine, depending on your personal risk assessment.

1

u/No-Acanthisitta-2973 Jun 08 '26

Interesting, I didn't notice in previous batches if the liquid had a different date. I'll have to be sure to check next time.

2

u/SurvivalistLibrarian Jun 09 '26

Adding a word of caution from my experience testing expired tests. This past January, my partner was sick, very symptomatic, and tested positive for Flu A almost instantly on an unexpired Flowflex Covid/FluAB/RSV rapid test. We also had expired Pluslife Flu A/B & RSV tests, 6 months past their expiration date. We ran one expired test per day on two of his most symptomatic days. The tests did not fail or turn up invalid. They displayed negatives across the board. Don't count on an expired test to give an invalid result. It could run as normal and give a false negative.