Your questions, answered "I purchased some BinaxNOW home tests last fall and I noticed this week when I took them out to bring on a trip that they expired in December 2021. Are they still usable, or should I discard them?" — Frances in Colorado The short answer from Abbott, maker of the BinaxNOW tests, is that you should follow the expiration date on the box. "Earlier manufactured product may have components with varying expiration dates and we want to ensure the entire kit remains within expiration," an Abbott spokesperson told me in an email. Generally speaking, however, most tests are probably still usable beyond their expiration dates — provided that you kept them dry and stored them in the temperature range recommended by the manufacturer. If, on the other hand, your tests were exposed to extreme heat or frozen more than once, you should discard them. The chemicals used to deliver your results will degrade over time, and the stability of these components can vary by manufacturer, so there's no one-size-fits-all rule for how much leeway you have to use expired tests. But the tests don't suddenly become ineffective as soon as soon as you get past the date on the box. Test makers have their own quality-control processes in place to ensure their products are accurate. Health regulators also review the shelf life of tests on a rolling basis and will extend expiration dates if manufacturers provide data showing their tests hold up over a longer period of time. If the FDA is satisfied with the findings, regulators will update the shelf life. This has already happened with some tests. Abbott recently received an updated emergency use authorization for BinaxNOW tests to extend the shelf life from 12 to 15 months. "All BinaxNOW tests will now be manufactured with this new shelf-life," the company spokesperson told me. These extensions will become more important as the pandemic drags on and different batches of tests reach their expiration dates, Mara G. Aspinall, a biomedical diagnostics professor at Arizona State University, told me. What's needed now, she said, is an aggressive communications campaign to alert consumers when regulators decide to push those dates back — perhaps in the form of an easy-to-use web portal that would allow consumers to punch in the lot number and double check the expiration. "It's critically important that we don't waste the tests that are in people's homes," Aspinall said. "It would be a pity if they didn't have the confidence to use them because of the expiration date." When in doubt, go with the printed date or check with the manufacturer. Most test makers have smartphone apps with key information about their products. Consider also talking with your doctor or public health department about whether your test is still safe to use. Additionally, you should always look for the "control" line on your tests — if you don't see it, don't use that test. | 
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