I'm working on the last of a box of Gu's that are 6 months past their expiration date, and I'm still alive ;-). I'd think those would be far more likely to go bad long before some tablets (asuming they've been stored in any sort of reasonable way). I wouldn't hesitate to use them if they're just a month past the exp. date.

What I know is a few years back Hammer didn't have expiration dates on products that effectively don't expire on any reasonable timescale. The company got inundated by people asking about expiration. So they put back arbitrary expiration dates of one year.

I'd use them.

Thanks. Seems like I figured - worth keeping on using them.

I used to use gels that were past their expiration date without much concern until I opened one recently that was growing mold inside.

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I don't pay much attention to expiration dates except to make sure that the stock is rotating (i.e. consuming the oldest stuff 1st). So, I have some experience with past-expiration Fizz tabs. If in the sealed tube - I've never opened a tube that was anything other than perfect, even a year or more after the expiry date. Fizz in open tubes - they do seem to absorb humidity over time. Then, they don't seem to dissolve as well as fresh (some undissolved bits at the bottom of the bottle) and maybe less fizzy. Similar results with the single serving foil packs. After a couple of years after the expiry date (ahem...), the single serve Fizz tablet was a little sticky and didn't dissolve well. YMMV and I'm not a food scientist or a physician, so if you use a Fizz after the expiry date and bad things happen, I am not to blame!

I have been eating a number of very expired powerbar products that I found in my cabinet. Bars and "chomp" type things. Literally years out of date. I haven't died yet, not have I experienced any unusual side effects. I can't imagine fizz tabs are anything to worry about.

as a QA/QC-regulatory manager for a company that makes similar products for some large companies similar to Hammer I may be able to add a bit of clarity. Expiry dates actually fit more with nutritional supplements and pharma so we can go down that line vs best before dates on foods. For instance there are 3 aspects that can impact the expiry date 1- the stability of the ingredients and 2- the stability of the flavor system, and 3 how well the packaging protects the product from degradation. If you want you can add a forth less under the control of the manufacturer and that is what abuse it is exposed to. So if we ignore abuse then say for the Hammer electrolyte tabs this contains vitamin B6 which can degrade and there are flavors particularly citrus types that can degrade. Chances are that the vitamin may have degraded to a point that it may no longer fall within the acceptable and regulatory limits as stated on the label, that is one reason why it may have " expired", and this is not likely to be anything that a user would ever be able to tell by taste or effect. The other, degradation of flavor, you would know right away and in this sort of formula probably is not going to go off easily. So what is the risk? nearly 0. If the packaging leaked it might have picked up some moisture which might affect the bicarbonates a bit but over all the minerals will not change. So from an electrolyte point of view probably last a very very long time well past when the flavor might go off. None of these things are going to make you sick and because the tablets will be very unlikely to support any micro organism there is little risk there as well.

So if it was me I would not be the least bit worried.

s5100e this was super helpful, thanks.