Do Spices Go Bad? Shelf Life and How to Tell

Found a jar of ground cumin from who knows when? It probably won’t hurt you. Dried spices don’t go bad the way milk or fresh produce does; they fade, and even McCormick says to think of them as going “not good” rather than bad.¹ How fast depends on the form of the spice and how you store it, and a sniff will tell you how far it has faded. The real safety worry with spices turns out to be something else entirely.

At a glance

Question	Short answer
Do spices expire?	They lose aroma and color over time; age is a quality issue, not a safety date.¹
Ground spices	1 year (UC Extension, America’s Test Kitchen) to 2–4 years (McCormick).²³¹
Whole spices	2 years (UC Extension, ATK) to 3–4 years (McCormick).²³¹
Dried leafy herbs	1 year (ATK) to 1–3 years (McCormick).³¹
Salt	Plain salt has no expiration date; Morton gives iodized salt 5 years because iodine can dissipate.⁴
How to tell	Crush a little and smell it; if aroma and color have faded, replace it.
Worst enemies	Air, light, moisture and heat.

How long spices last: what named sources say

Plenty of shelf-life charts float around online with no source attached. These are the figures we could trace to a named publisher. They disagree, so here they are side by side, not averaged.

Category	UC Cooperative Extension, 2002²	America’s Test Kitchen³	McCormick (spice company)¹
Whole spices (peppercorns, allspice, seeds such as caraway)	2 years	2 years	3–4 years
Ground spices	1 year	1 year	2–4 years
Dried leafy herbs	1 year (grouped with ground)	1 year	1–3 years
Seasoning blends	not given	not given	1–3 years for most
Salt	not given	not given	indefinite

McCormick defines a spice’s shelf life as the stretch of time when it’s most aromatic and tastes best in cooking. That fits all three sources. These are windows for best flavor, not dates when a spice turns unsafe.

McCormick prints a “best by” date on the lid of its bottles. Other brands vary. If your jar has no date, write the purchase date on the lid. America’s Test Kitchen recommends labeling your spice jar lids too.

Salt

Salt is the easy one. Morton says salt itself has no expiration date, but its use-by guidance differs by product:⁴

Morton product group	Recommended use-by	Morton’s reason
Iodized table salt, iodized sea salt	5 years	Iodine can dissipate over time
Plain table salt, sea salts, kosher salt	5 years	Contains anti-caking additives, but clumping may occur
Natural all-purpose sea salt (no anti-caking agent)	3 years	May become caked over time
Season-All seasoned salt	2 years	For optimal color and flavor

Those are one manufacturer’s numbers for its own products. McCormick also lists salt as indefinite.

Fresh garlic

Fresh garlic is a different animal. UC Agriculture and Natural Resources says it keeps 3 to 5 months somewhere cool (60°F, or 16°C), dry and dark.⁵ For the dried stuff, see garlic powder.

Are old spices safe?

Age isn’t the safety issue. The real concern with spices is contamination before they ever reach your kitchen. In its risk profile on spices, the FDA found that spice shipments offered for import in fiscal years 2007 to 2009 had a Salmonella prevalence of about 6.6%, about twice the average for all other imported FDA-regulated foods.⁶ The FDA didn’t tell consumers to use less spice, and it noted that cooking can reduce pathogen contamination, depending on how long and how hot you cook. That’s a supply-chain problem, not a reason to toss an old jar.

Damp is the exception at home. If a spice got wet, clumped hard or shows visible mold, throw it out. We’re playing it safe there: we couldn’t find any source with a safe way to rescue moldy spice.

How to tell if a spice is still good

Smell it. UC Extension says that if a spice smells strong and flavorful, it’s probably still potent. Crush or break whole spices like peppercorns and cinnamon sticks first to release their aroma.²
Crumble herbs. America’s Test Kitchen suggests crumbling a little dried herb between your fingers. If it gives off a lively aroma, it’s still good. If the aroma and color have faded, time to restock.³
Look at red spices. Paprika’s color loss can be measured. In a 1992 lab study, untreated paprika powder lost an estimated 27% of its color in 150 days at room temperature.⁷ If your paprika, chili powder or cayenne has dulled toward brown, it’s lost color.

You can still cook with a faded spice. You’ll just need more of it for the same effect, so add it gradually and taste.

How to make spices last longer

UC Cooperative Extension names four things that speed flavor and color loss: air, light, moisture and heat. Its advice:²

Store in a tightly covered container, in a dark place away from sunlight, inside a cupboard or drawer.
Avoid storing above the stove, dishwasher, microwave or refrigerator, or near a sink or heating vent.
Use a dry spoon, and don’t sprinkle straight from the jar into a steaming pot, which lets steam into the container.
Buy a smaller container until you know how fast you use a spice.

America’s Test Kitchen adds one more: buy whole spices when you can and grind them just before you use them.

The refrigerator. The extension service recommends refrigerating paprika, chili powder and red pepper to keep their color, especially in hot weather. The 1992 paprika study backs this up. Untreated powder lost an estimated 15% of its color in 150 days in the fridge, compared with 27% at room temperature.⁷ We didn’t find a named source recommending the fridge or freezer for other dried spices, or one warning against it.

For containers, see the best containers for spices.

Not yet measured

Shelf life measured on individual spices in home storage. The figures above are general guidance, not per-spice measurements.
Whether freezing helps or hurts dried spices.
Whether oily seeds like sesame and poppy need a shorter window. You’ll see figures for this, but we couldn’t trace them.

How Long Do Spices Last?, McCormick. mccormick.com · Merchant ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶
Add a Little Spice to Your Life! Part II, University of California Cooperative Extension. ucanr.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵
Keeping Spices and Dried Herbs Fresher Longer, America’s Test Kitchen. americastestkitchen.com · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵
Morton Salt Expiration Guide, Morton Salt. mortonsalt.com · Merchant ↩ ↩²
Garlic: Safe Methods to Store, Preserve, and Enjoy, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. ccfruitandnuts.ucanr.edu · Reference work ↩
Questions & Answers: Improving the Safety of Spices, U.S. Food and Drug Administration. fda.gov · Regulator ↩
Biacs, Czinkotai and Hoschke, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 1992. agris.fao.org · Peer-reviewed ↩ ↩²

Also drawn on

The Best Spice Storage Solutions (Chase Brightwell, updated 24 June 2025), America's Test Kitchen. americastestkitchen.com

Do Spices Go Bad? Shelf Life, Safety and How to Tell