Botanical Remedies shelf life guidance.

Herbal Products supplied by Botanical Remedies follows EMP, GMP and Organic guidance for storage, packaging and shelf life of medicinal plants. Those rules are very strict and differs from food standards guidance.

Packaging and storage:

• at Botanical Remedies we use Light protective packaging: Exposure to light (especially UV) can initiate chemical reactions that degrade active compounds. 
• At Botanical Remedies we store our products at temperature range from 20-22:  Higher temperatures accelerate most chemical degradation reactions.
• At Botanical Remedies we fully control Moisture/Humidity, our facility is not large scale warehouse (where its difficult to control moisture/humidity): Moisture can lead to hydrolysis, promote microbial growth (mould, bacteria), and cause clumping in powders.
• At Botanical Remedies our products are not exposed to Oxygen: Oxidation can cause loss of active constituents (e.g., volatile oils) and the formation of impurities.

 

Stability testing

Our suppliers use stability testing to monitor physical changes (appearance, colour, odour), chemical changes (potency of active ingredients or markers, degradation products, pH), and microbiological limits.

Potency testing at Botanical Remedies 

On daily base during packaging orders by our Herbalist we ensure that dried herbs are still potent by their colour and aroma; if the scent is weak or the colour is faded, they have lost their medicinal quality, and though they are not necessarily unsafe we dispose them. While most of food companies will still market that kind of products at Botanical Remedies herbs which lost medicinal potency are disposed immediately.

Best before End date

Best Before End date is the date when product will loose medicinal potency due to age, while all required by set standards conditions has been meet. This date was achieved during stability testing. Stability testing is made at 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36 month of storage and 1 year after expiry.

Medicinal stability testing differs from Food stability testing that's why usually food has 2-3 years longer shelf life than medicinal herbs.

While important medicinal constituents undergo degradation at same time product will retain most of food valour's.

Botanical Remedies Best Before End date:

 is the date when our products will no longer have full medicinal actions, but be aware that until last day of the date medicinal actions will retain. This was established during many of stability testing analysis.

Botanical Remedies shelf life visibility:

Shelf life of our herbal products is visible to anyone at product page just below product title. Shelf life is updated immediately after batch ends.

Botanical Remedies certificates of analysis, Certificates of conformance and Product specifications:

Those specifications and analysis results are available at product page in picture form, however most recent batches COA, COC or PS are available upon request by contacting us. Due to product flow we are unable to change those at each new batch arrival. Due to nature of our Business Quality Standards we aim to supply small batches of the products which can be fully controlled by our Herbalist Chief of Quality. We learned during 2 years experience that larger batch even from most trusted supplier is harder to control and may lead to returns or disposal.

 

Botanical Remedies short date products discounts:

Discount 10% 90 days before shelf life ends

Discount 15% 60 days before shelf life ends

discount 50% 30 days before shelf life ends

Please be aware that those discounted products are still safe and efficient for use as herbal remedies by Herbalists and other Holistic health professionals. And in most cases have stronger aroma, colour and actions than most of super fresh herbal teas available in UK market.

Owner, Funder and Chief of Quality Botanical Remedies Master Herbalist Wojciech Bujak 08.11.2025