Testing Strips out of date

[Merryterry]

Do fnger pricking Testing Strips go out of date? I only use finger pricking when my Libre 2 Sensors go wrong (which is too often for my liking). When I opened a new container of testing strips I found there wa a 'Use By' date on the container. I found this hard to believe.

 

[Leadinglights]

Yes, there is, as opening the container allows moisture in and they usually are enzyme based to the components may deteriorate in time. I found mine were out of date so ordered more but when I compared they were pretty similar but then I'm not relying on them for insulin or hypo purposes.

 

[harbottle]

Yes, they do.
They have an enzyme in them that reacts to the glucose to blood. The effectiveness of this will probably reduce.

 

[helli]

Yes they do and they can be inaccurate when the date is past.
I use a CGM but will finger prick at least once a day to check that my sensor is still "close enough" as well as checking all highs and lows before treating so have no trouble using my test strips before the use by date.

 

[SB2015]

Yes they do

My test strips come in a cassette and they just don’t work after the use by date. I got caught out with this as I test So infrequently now that I use a sensor, and I still had cassettes from before I started and had not checked the dates in them.