...manufacturers have extended shelf lives but lot number series. You can check them out of the market. website or a CDC link.
That said, I'm not throwing any of them out.
After researching the reagents, I cannot fathom a mechanism by which the reactions or indicators would degrade is kept from extreme temperature, are kept dry & the envelopes and swabs are still sealed.
Absent hard data, the FDA is always going to insist on a very cautiously short expiration period, without lot retesting. That latter step would be hard to randomize when millions of kits are in people's homes worldwide. So, they made no provision for extrapolating expiration dates.
Limited sampling of held inventory (not really random) have convinced everyone that extended useful life dates were reasonable.
But, I don't believe the actually expire, so I'm doing it my way. I'm recommending nothing. It's a personal decision.
That said, there are several websites where you can donate "expired" tests to be sent to lesser economically able regions of the world. They have a sampling based revalidation and when (not if) they pass are moved on where they will do the most good.
So, don't throw them away. There are better options.
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