Cement is Best Before… 90 days or 30 days?
The global norms of cement usage are 30 days, i.e, a cement bag has to be consumed within 30 days of its manufacture. Also, most countries have made it mandatory to publish actual date of manufacture, so that the consumer has idea of exactly how fresh the cement is.
Against this, norm set by BIS is 90 days for consumption of cement from the month/week of manufacture. Considering the practical conditions in India where moisture levels are very high in several parts and during certain parts of the year, the 90-day shelf life of cement is not good at all for the consumers.
Another important point to note is that Cement is packed in HDPE bags in India. The HDPE bags are always exposed to moisture.
Therefore, it is imperative to use the freshest cement possible and in HDPE packing, the shelf life of the cement should be reduced to 30 days from the date of manufacture.
Probably this is the high time for BIS to adopt global standards and update its regulations to reflect date coding and actual shelf life for cement packed in HDPE Woven Sacks in Indian conditions.
* Point 5.1 (f) of BIS Amended Notification, August 2016: in black ink, a manufacture should provide information that the ”Portland Cement is best before… [date of manufacturing, i.e, 3 months/12 weeks from date of packing”.
** Point 5.1.g of BIS Amended Notification, August 2016: A cement bag should have the wordings that “Cement to be tested before use if more than 3 months old from date of packing”.