Water's best before date?

[lyds toohin]

Is it OK to drink tap or bottled water after 24 hours? Is water I take to bed one night drinkable the next morning or even the next evening?

[HomerSimpson]

I regularly drink it even when it's been in the bottle for several days after the bottle's been opened, and I've never had the slightest ill effect. After all, it's been in the ground for thousands of years, so a few days in a bottle shouldn't be too much of a problem. I know people will say that bacteria will breed, etc, but lots of drinks, from coke to whisky, are drunk from bottles that have been opened for days (or weeks, in the case of whisky, etc). The warnings that come on labels are just companies trying to make sure they don't get into problems, and are symptomatic of a) modern hysteria to the slightest risk and b) the nature of Americans to sue for millions of dollars when they get a slight stomach upset.

[Andromeda]

An opened bottle will start to taste funny after a couple of days - stale and stagnant. Water you take to bed with you will be drinkable next morning and should be okay next evening, but you have a tap in your house, doesn't take much to change it as alsorts could have fallen in the glass during the day.

Homer - the reason that an opened bottle of whiskey will keep is because of the alcohol content - no bacteria has been proven to survive in a spirit strength liquor. You will notice that a bottle of wine will go off in a couple of weeks if you leave it as the alcohol content is a lot lower. Coke on the other hand will go off, though it generally has enough sugar and preservatives in it to make that a slow process as well.

Completely agree with your assessment on why the bottles do have a best before date though. It is very sad, but very true.

Andy

[Bert]

Andromeda might note that Coca Cola (and any other cola that does not contain sweeteners (they used to be called artificial sweeteners) does not contain any preservative, because as she (?) rightly says, the sugar content is so high that bacteria cannot survive in it.