Why you shouldn't throw out that expired COVID test just yet

The expiration date printed on your at-home COVID-19 test kits may not be accurate. Lost in the summer news cycle was the fact that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved an expiration date extension for the free tests offered by the federal government. These are the ones in the orange and white packaging as seen above.

The tests produced by iHealth Labs were granted a three month extension "based on the results of your ongoing stability studies," the FDA told iHealth in July 2022. That means, as of July, the tests are good for up to a year.

That same month, the company said, "We will continue to apply to (the) FDA for shelf-life extensions every three months based on our stability studies, and the new shelf-lives for our tests will apply to tests already produced as well as future production."