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Hi kblewett, Happy New Year. While I am no expert I would say, from a practical perspective, that I can not see how throwing away 90% of a perishable product, of the larger volume size, would be less expensive then buying less of the smaller volume size of the same product at higher cost initially but would allow for use of greater volume of the bottle, once opened, and sustain a longer shelf life, with the exception of unexpected storage environmental mishap, enabling you to absorb the higher cost. In other words, buy less quantity of the smaller volume size at an initial higher cost, but be able to use near 100% of the volume and because it is the smaller size you would be able to store it, unopened, for a longer period. These to benefits may help absorb some, or all, of the higher cost. I hope this helps some.

While it is not impossible, it can be extremely ticklish to extend an expiration date (of anything) beyond that of the manufacturer. You may find that the burden of proof required exceeds the value of the theoretical savings. You also have to remember that the manufacturers of the products put on that expiration date for a valid reason - presumably their testing indicated some deterioration/deficiency over time. Certainly microbial contamination is an issue and culturing may provide useful data. However, and this is a BIG HOWEVER, most BB saline products do not contain preservatives and don't claim sterility after opening. Therefore, you will undoubtedly end up at some point with positive cultures on opened containers. The question then becomes "How much contamination can our test system tolerate ?" - a very difficult question to answer satisfactorily. Perhaps more importantly for BB testing is stable pH and any plan to extend the expiration date of saline should include pH testing.

There will be full instructions on the survey paperwork. It changes from survey to survey - they ask for something new about every survey, nothing ever goes away.