What is the shelf life of plastic bottled water?

Most of us store some water for use during an emergency. What most people don’t know is there is an ‘expiration date’ or ‘best by date’ printed on the plastic bottles. How to store can be found in the link below. Why do I use Zephyrhills as an information source? Just my personal preference. I buy only Zephyrhills Bottled Water because it has the cleanest taste and with no after taste like I find in bottled water from major soda manufacturers. The following information is provided by Zephyrhills Brand, Florida.

What is the shelf life of bottled water?

We don’t have an expiration date on our bottles — just a "Best By" date. To figure out the “Best By” date, find the letters “BB” one inch above or below the label (depending on where your bottle was made).

Zephyrhills® Brand products have the following “Best By” dates:

Sparkling 1.0L PET: 12 months from manufacturing date

Sparkling 0.5L PET: 9 months from manufacturing date

Still (non-carbonated): 18 months from manufacturing date

What’s the best way to store my Zephyrhills® Brand 100% Natural Spring Water products?

It’s no big secret — handle them like any other food product. Just because Florida can be hot doesn’t mean your water bottles should be. Keep them at a moderate temperature in a cool, clean shaded location and away from detergents, cleansers and other strong-smelling chemicals or products (like yesterday’s mackerel).

Is it safe to drink from plastic water bottles? Does your packaging contain BPA?

The FDA and other international health organizations and regulatory agencies have approved the kind of plastic we use as a safe food packaging material.  Here at Zephyrhills brand, we continually evaluate packaging materials for safety and abide by all FDA regulations.  Additionally, all current and available scientific evidence indicates that our bottled water packaging is safe when consumed by its “Best By” date, stored at moderate temperatures and kept away from strong-smelling cleansers and chemicals.

BPA Free is a term than can only be used with certain types of “virgin plastic” bottles, meaning bottles made only with new plastic material that has not been previously used, sterilized and re-made into plastic pellets.   Today, the majority of our bottles are made with virgin plastic and are BPA free. This includes our “single serve” bottles, ranging from 8 ounces to 1.5 Liters, and our “multi-serve” sizes, ranging from 3 Liter to 5 gallons.   

As a company, we are looking to use more recycled plastic in our bottles and eventually would like all of our bottles to be made with 100% recycled plastic.  In this way, we can give new life to some of the existing plastic in our society, helping to keep it out of landfill and waterways. Our recycled plastic would meet or exceed all FDA guidelines.  Recycled plastic is virtually BPA-Free, but due to recycling process, we cannot use the term BPA-Free. 

Link for more information:

https://www.zephyrhillswater.com/faq