Shilajit's shelf life is whatever the date on its label says: no published study has measured how long shilajit stays stable. In India a packaged food must carry an expiry or use-by date and an Ayurvedic medicine is dated under its own shelf-life rule, so follow that date, keep it dry and sealed, and discard it if you see mould. If you take shilajit for a health reason or take any medicine, follow your doctor's advice.
Online answers to this question, mostly from supplement sellers, tend to give a shelf life in years. We could not find a regulatory or scientific source behind any such figure, so this guide sticks to what the rules and the research actually say.
At a glance
- FSSAI's Labelling and Display Regulations, 2020 require every pre-packaged food to show its date of manufacture or packaging and an expiry or use-by date; best before is optional.
- Under FSSAI's definitions, food past its best-before date may still be safe though lower in quality, while food past its expiry or use-by date may not remain safe and must not be sold.
- Rule 161B of India's Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 requires an expiry date on Ayurvedic medicines and sets shelf lives by type of medicine, from 1 year for arka to no expiry date for most bhasmas; shilajit is not named in the table.
- A PubMed search found no shelf-life or storage-stability study of shilajit; a 2025 laboratory analysis of one sample measured 6.67 per cent loss on drying and said moisture shapes shelf life and microbial susceptibility.
- The World Health Organization advises keeping food dry and not too warm, and discarding food that looks mouldy or discoloured.
How long does shilajit last?
As long as its label says, and no longer. We searched PubMed for studies of shilajit's stability, storage or shelf life and found none. Any figure in years is the maker's assessment of its own product, not a property of shilajit established by research. The date printed on the pack is the only number that applies to the jar in your hand.
The date is also tied to how the product was kept. FSSAI defines both best-before and expiry dates as applying "under any stated storage conditions".
Which rules set that date depends on how the product is sold. Shilajit is used both as a dietary supplement and in Ayurvedic medicine, as a 2012 review describes, and the two kinds of product are labelled under different laws. The next two sections take each in turn.
What does the date on a shilajit label mean in India?
For a product sold as a food or health supplement, the date follows FSSAI's Labelling and Display Regulations, 2020. The label must show the date of manufacture or packaging and an "Expiry/Use by" date, grouped together in one place. A "Best before" date may be added as optional or extra information. FSSAI's 2022 health-supplement rules apply these general labelling rules in addition to their own.
The two kinds of date mean different things:
- Best before: the end of the period, under any stated storage conditions, during which the food stays fully marketable and keeps any qualities claimed for it. After it, the regulation says the food "may still be perfectly safe to consume, though, its quality may have diminished", and it must not be sold if it becomes unsafe.
- Use by or expiry: the end of the estimated period, under any stated storage conditions, after which the product "may not remain safe" and probably will not have the quality and safety attributes consumers expect. After it, the food must not be sold or distributed for human consumption.
The regulation also says that if a date depends on special storage conditions, those conditions must be declared on the label, and that storage conditions after opening may be given too. So the storage line on the pack is part of the date, not a separate suggestion.
How do the Ayurvedic medicine rules set an expiry date?
For a product sold as an Ayurvedic medicine, rule 161B of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 applies. It requires the date of expiry to be conspicuously displayed on the label, and says that after that date the medicine "shall not be in circulation". Shelf life is counted from the date of manufacture and set by type of medicine, not by ingredient.
In the consolidated text published by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, amended up to 31 December 2016, the table runs from 1 year for arka to 10 years for mandura-lauha. Churna is given 2 years. Hard gelatin capsules containing herbal ingredients with rasa or bhasma are given 5 years, and soft gelatin capsules of herbal ingredients 3 years. Rasaushadhies, asava-arista, kupipakva rasayan, parpati, pisti and most bhasmas are given no expiry date.
A note to the table says some of these groups "have very long shelf life and they became more efficacious with the passage of time". That is the rule's statement about those groups. We found no study testing it for shilajit, which is not named anywhere in the table, so the rule does not say how long a shilajit product lasts. A maker selling shilajit as a medicine dates it under the group its product belongs to. The rules have been amended many times, as the notes throughout that text show, so a current label follows the current version.
What does research say about shilajit's stability?
Very little. A PubMed search on shilajit or mumie with stability, storage, shelf life, degradation, moisture or mould found no study that stored shilajit over time and measured how it changed. A search for fulvic acid and shelf life returned only papers on soils, fertilisers and materials such as battery electrodes.
The closest evidence is indirect. A 2025 laboratory analysis of a single traditionally collected sample from Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand, measured its loss on drying at 6.67 per cent. The authors describe moisture content as essential for assessing shelf life and microbial susceptibility. That is a statement about why moisture matters, not a test of how the sample aged, and one sample cannot speak for shilajit in general.
What has been documented is contamination. The 2012 review notes that taking shilajit without preliminary purification may risk intoxication from mycotoxins, heavy metal ions, polymeric quinones and free radicals, among others. Mycotoxins are made by moulds. That is a reason to keep moisture out, and our guide on how to identify pure shilajit covers what a batch report should show.
How should you store shilajit?
Follow the storage line on the label first, because the date depends on it. Beyond that, keep it dry, not too warm and closed. The World Health Organization notes that mould usually does not grow in properly dried and stored foods, and advises keeping food dry, free of insects and not too warm. It also advises against keeping foods for long periods before use.
One laboratory did the same. In a 2022 cell study, the shilajit was stored at room temperature and protected from moisture. That is a laboratory's handling, not a shelf-life test, but it points the same way.
| Form | What sets its date | How to store it |
|---|---|---|
| Resin | The maker's expiry or use-by date under FSSAI rules if sold as a food or supplement; rule 161B if sold as an Ayurvedic medicine | As the label states; lid closed, dry spoon, nothing wet in the jar |
| Powder | The same two routes; under rule 161B, by the group the product belongs to | As the label states; container sealed after each use so it stays dry |
| Capsule or tablet | The same two routes; rule 161B's table gives capsule groups 3 or 5 years depending on contents | As the label states; in the original pack with the cap closed |
Our guides on how to use shilajit resin and shilajit resin vs capsules cover handling each form day to day.
How can you tell if shilajit has gone bad?
Discard it if it is past its expiry or use-by date, if you can see mould, or if it looks discoloured or wrong in a way it did not when you opened it. We found no source describing what moisture damage looks like in shilajit specifically, so the guidance here is the general guidance for food.
The World Health Organization advises discarding food that looks mouldy, discoloured or shrivelled. It also notes that mould can penetrate deep into food rather than growing only on the surface, and that most mycotoxins are chemically stable and survive processing. Scraping off a visible patch does not make the rest safe.
Discard the product if:
- it is past the expiry or use-by date on the label;
- you can see mould on it;
- it looks discoloured compared with when you opened it;
- water has got into the jar or packet and you cannot be sure it is dry;
- you cannot find a date or a batch code at all.
A best-before date is less strict than an expiry date, but a packaged food must carry an expiry or use-by date anyway, so that is the one to go by. If you have taken some from a doubtful jar and feel unwell, ask your doctor.
The short version
No study has measured how long shilajit stays stable, so the expiry or use-by date on the label is the figure to follow. Under FSSAI's rules, food past its expiry date may not remain safe and must not be sold; under rule 161B, an Ayurvedic medicine must not be in circulation after its expiry date, and that rule's table does not name shilajit. The date assumes the storage conditions on the label, so keep shilajit dry, closed and not too warm. Discard it if it is past its date or shows mould, and follow your doctor's advice on taking it at all.
Sources
Further reading behind the figures above. Himdhara's own numbers — yields, batch results — come from our production records and the batch reports on the lab reports page.
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (2025). Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020, compendium Version VIII. FSSAI.
- Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (2016). The Drugs and Cosmetics Act and Rules (as amended up to the 31st December, 2016). Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation.
- World Health Organization (2023). Mycotoxins. WHO fact sheet.
- Basavaraja D, Katkar R, Dhaka P, Tomar S, Sircar D, Chikara G, Panda PK (2025). Chemical Analysis of Native Himalayan Shilajit: An Evaluation of an Ayurvedic Formulation. ACS Omega.
- Carrasco-Gallardo C, Guzmán L, Maccioni RB (2012). Shilajit: A Natural Phytocomplex with Potential Procognitive Activity. International Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.