Iodide ion, as present in KI, does not decay. Period. It’s that ion that your body requires. The tablets would serve their purpose for long after they are purchased.
As a chemist, I will go ahead and inform you confidently that Potassium Iodide in a dry place will outlast you by a significant margin. It’s very chemically stable.
Probably to account for people who won’t store it properly, degradation of the packaging material, etc.
For example, if you store your blister pack of KI on a sunny shelf in your bathroom, UV rays eventually weaken the plastic packaging, cracks develop in the plastic letting in water vapor from your shower, and a stray mold space makes its way in as well and eventually you end up with mold growing on your pills. The KI itself may still be perfectly fine and able to do its job, but that mold might make you sick.
Idiodin itself can’t get “bad” in any way. The carrier material might go bad, but that’s also just starches and a few mineral compounds. At worst, you get powder instead of a pill.
The expiration dates on medication are intentionally extremely conservative.
What does potassium iodide decay into? It’s not an organic compound.
Iodide ion, as present in KI, does not decay. Period. It’s that ion that your body requires. The tablets would serve their purpose for long after they are purchased.
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I don’t know, I’m not any kind of chemist. I trust the actual chemists to tell me how long the pills will be trustworthy.
As a chemist, I will go ahead and inform you confidently that Potassium Iodide in a dry place will outlast you by a significant margin. It’s very chemically stable.
What’s the date for, then?
Regulation compliance probably
They’re required to put some date, and nobody wants to pay for a 50-year medical study to show what chemists already know: KI will still be KI.
Probably to account for people who won’t store it properly, degradation of the packaging material, etc.
For example, if you store your blister pack of KI on a sunny shelf in your bathroom, UV rays eventually weaken the plastic packaging, cracks develop in the plastic letting in water vapor from your shower, and a stray mold space makes its way in as well and eventually you end up with mold growing on your pills. The KI itself may still be perfectly fine and able to do its job, but that mold might make you sick.
Idiodin itself can’t get “bad” in any way. The carrier material might go bad, but that’s also just starches and a few mineral compounds. At worst, you get powder instead of a pill.
The expiration dates on medication are intentionally extremely conservative.