How to get the lot and expiration date for Alconox Inc. detergents

Problem: To assure that you are using effective detergent, you want to know that the detergent has not expired.  Alconox Inc. detergents have a shelf life of two years from the date of manufacture.  You need to know the date of manufacture to determine the expiration date for Alconox Inc. products.

Solution: Most detergent packages are marked with a 24 months from the end of the month of manufacture shelf life.  The more robust and longer life ½ oz Alconox® Powdered Precision Cleaner and Tergazyme® Enzyme-Active Powdered Detergent powder sample packets, and Alcotabs® Tablet Pipet Detergent packages are marked with 36 months from the end of the month of manufacture.

Some liquid bottle packages of Alconox Inc. detergents have expiration dates ink jet printed on the bottle next to the lot number just above the label.  For other packages, you can find the date of manufacture and expiration date on the certificate of analysis (COA) of the lot of detergent that you have.  To download COAs, visit  COA | Alconox Inc.

The below will help locate the lot number and expiration date locations:

• 1 Qt (0.95L) and 1 Gal (3.8L) Bottle – above the label ink jet printed on
• 4 lb (1.8kg) box  – upper right of To Open panel
• Case boxes – upper right of Ship To panel
• 5 gal (19L), 15 gal (57L) and 55 gal (208L) drums – vertical large lettering inkjet
• 25 (11 kg) and 50 lb (22 kg) boxes – upper right of ship to panel
• 100 lb (45 kg) lb and 300 lb (136 kg) drums – ink jetted on side of container not far from the label

Alconox Inc. lot numbers are currently in two formats:

LOT MM-DD-YY-##
MM – 2 digits for the month
DD – 2 digits for the day
YY – 2 digits for the year
## Batch number of the day
Example 01-17-23-03
Manufacture on January 17th, 2023,
Batch 03

LOT MMYYJJJ##
MM – 2 digits for the month
YY – 2 digits for the year
JJJ – Julian Date of Date Packaged
## Batch number of the day
Example 07231991
Manufacture on July 2023, Packed Date 18th,
Batch 1

Our previous lot system in the format of letter, number, letter, number such as L2H9 is deciphered as follows:

To estimate the expiration date from the lot number, use the 3^rd and 4^th character of the lot number.  The 3^rd character is a letter that stands for the month of manufacture using A for January thru M for December skipping the letter I to avoid confusion with the number 1.  The 4^th character of the lot number is a number which stands for the year of manufacture currently starting from the year 2010, such that 0=2010 and 9 = 2019.  Starting in the year 2020, 0 will mean 2020 and 9 will then mean 2029 and so on.  Knowing the month and year of manufacture, you now add two years and get the month of expiration.

To request these, or any Alconox Inc. detergents for free, please complete the questionnaire at Get Sample.  For more information about any one of our Alconox Inc. detergents, consult the technical bulletin for each product. Or click here to access each of our detergent’s  Safety Data Sheets.

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Contact us any time: cleaning@alconox.com