What To Know About Covid Test Expiration Date Extension

If you have a batch of Covid tests in your home that you have been storing for months and have just noticed are recently expired, your first thought might be to throw them away. Don’t do so just yet, though – those tests might still be useable. Covid test expiration dates have been extended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is also the organization that authorizes rapid antigen Covid-19 tests. Now, you may have a few questions on your mind. Do Covid tests expire? What is the reliability of at home Covid tests? What does a Covid test expiration date extension actually mean? We answer all of these questions and more.

Has My Covid Test Expired?

You’ll be able to see a list of authorized at-home Covid test kits on the FDA website. To check if your test is still useable, you can search up the lot number on your kit and see if it is listed on the website.

How are Covid Test Expiration Dates Determined?

The “shelf-life” of a Covid test lists out the duration during which the test should perform accurately. You can measure this from the date of manufacture. The expiration dates that you see printed on the box of your Covid tests aligns with the end of this shelf life.

Manufacturers perform testing on Covid test kits to understand how long and well they can work for, and laboratory testing is regulated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services. This is known as stability testing, and it refers to the time period over which the performance of a Covid test kit remains stable. There are various types of stability testing, the most accurate of which is known as “real-time” testing. In a real-time test, manufacturers store the tests for the duration of the proposed shelf life, and a little time over that to ensure that the expiration date is reliable. They then evaluate the test kit’s ability to perform with accuracy. For instance, a test with a proposed shelf-life of 12 months will be evaluated after having been stored for 13 months.

Given that manufacturers need time to perform stability testing, the FDA generally authorizes over-the-counter Covid tests with a shelf life between 4 to 6 months from the date of manufacture. This duration may however be extended afterwards, following any accumulation and evaluation of additional data.

Can Expiration Dates Be Extended?

We have mentioned that although the standard shelf life of a test is 4 to 6 months, stability testing often runs across a longer duration, often between 12 to 18 months. Covid tests have been shown to perform with accuracy during this extended stability testing period. If a manufacturer notices this and contacts the FDA, the FDA will authorize a longer shelf life for that particular test. They will then extend the expiration dates and the manufacturer might inform customers about this extension directly.

So, although the batch of Covid tests you have at home may have surpassed the expiration dates printed on the box, it is entirely possible that those tests are still able to perform accurately. If the test manufacturer has not sent you a direct notice on extension dates, you may check the FDA website to find out if your test kit’s expiration date has been extended.