It can be said that manufacturers, operators and quality supervision and monitoring professionals in all aspects of the tobacco industry generally know the specific production date of cigarettes, but only smokers as consumers cannot know. Commodities used for consumption generally have a shelf life, and cigarettes are no exception, but the fact is that at present, no brand of cigarettes in China will indicate the shelf life, and cigarettes in many foreign countries do not indicate the shelf life. ? Why do cigarettes have no shelf life? Everyone knows that smoking is harmful to health. If you smoke moldy and deteriorated cigarettes, it will undoubtedly make things worse. In that case, why not indicate the production date and shelf life on each pack of cigarettes? The reporter interviewed the departments of cigarette production, circulation and supervision.
Roughly summed up two reasons.
The statement about the date of cigarette production is "no need to indicate".
The manufacturer said: the general products can be sold within half a year, and the production date has been marked on each box when the products leave the factory. Dealers believe that most cigarettes are in and out now, and there will be no long-term backlog, and they also know the production date of each kind of cigarettes. But the reporter asked some tobacco dealers in Taiyuan whether they would tell consumers the production date of cigarettes. They replied that some people would ask about the authenticity of cigarettes, but few people wanted to know the date of production. ? The saying about the shelf life of cigarettes is "the situation is complicated and there is no standard" or "the labeling is meaningless".
The reporter visited several cigarette production enterprises. The technicians of these enterprises generally believe that cigarettes are a very complicated product, and there are many processes from the purchase of tobacco leaves to the manufacture of finished cigarettes. Due to different storage environments, the shelf life varies greatly. It can be stored in dry environment for 2 or 3 years, but it can't be stored in bad environment 1 year. In the south and north of China, the same brand may have different shelf life. For example, in a place with high temperature and humidity, after only one summer, the dry smoke will be alcoholized and absorb enough water, and it will easily become moldy when it changes; In dry and cold areas, the shelf life of cigarettes can be as long as several years.
The differences caused by these factors are generally not obvious.
The person in charge of the State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau once explained to the media: As far as cigarettes are concerned, although they are classified as food at home and abroad, they are obviously different from ordinary foods. It is not directly imported and must be consumed by burning tobacco. Based on this particularity, any brand of cigarettes, not only in China, but also internationally, does not indicate the shelf life. The harm of cigarettes to health is not determined by time. Its harmfulness has been clearly written on the box. It exists regardless of time, so it is meaningless to mark the shelf life. Ma, a lawyer in Taiyuan who has been smoking for many years, said that there is no doubt that there will be some slight harm to the human body after the deterioration of cigarettes, but it is not easy to monitor and quantify the extent and consequences, so the formulation of the shelf life lacks sufficient and reasonable basis. However, this cannot be a sufficient reason why cigarettes do not indicate the expiration date.