Classical Pearls has moved away from an expiration date and now uses "manufactured on" dates due to the excellent stability of these products.
Generally, there is very minimal loss of potency over time, especially if the bottles are kept in a cool, dry location. The potency and integrity of the herbs will remain intact for many years after the date of manufacture. Over time, the powder may clump inside of the capsules (especially if the bottle has been opened). This is due to the fact that we do NOT use silica dioxide - the most commonly used addition to nutritional and herbal powders to aid the encapsulation process and prevent clumping of the powder. This clumping does not affect the quality or bioavailability in any way and we prefer to keep our herbal powders as pure as possible.
We are confident that the products will hold their integrity and full potency for a minimum of 4- 5 years when properly stored. With this in mind, our goal is to sell each product within 2 years of the date of manufacturing. This would then allow practitioners another 2 years to dispense the products, and the patients a full year after that to use the product.
When thinking about product stability we recognize that it is very difficult to quantify potency in complex herbal formulas. Unlike pharmaceuticals, which have a clear active ingredient that can be measured, the action of Chinese herbal formulas relies on complex alchemical interactions of the herbs’ natures and flavors and an incredibly wide array of biochemicals.
That being said, there are other manufacturers in our industry who have chosen to test certain chemical markers in their granulated herbs to see how they change over time. After more than 7 years in the bottle, there was no significant loss in reference to these markers. Our own clinical experience using these products more than 5 years after their manufacture validates this thinking, as we found no loss in efficacy. If you are interested, we invite you to open the capsules and taste the herbs inside as a demonstration of how strong and flavorful they still are at any point in their shelf life.
If you have further questions, concerns or just want to discuss this policy, feel free to contact Classical Pearls at (503) 695-2985, or by email at info@classicalpearls.org.
