DEAR DR. ROACH: My roommate will throw out food that is one day past the expiration date, but has prescription drugs that are over 10 years old in the medicine cabinet. Are old drugs dangerous or just ineffective? R.D.
ANSWER: I think your roommate is wrong on both counts: Most food is good at least a few days after its listed expiration, and keeping expired medication way past its due date is potentially dangerous.
Expired medication, certainly if its a year past its expiration date, often is ineffective. There are exceptions some medications are very stable if kept dark and cool but it is not wise to count on that. Further, a few medicines, especially the tetracycline class of antibiotics, actually are dangerous and may cause kidney damage if taken past their expiration date. This is almost unheard of nowadays, fortunately.
