Phage Complete FAQ

Phage Complete is a shelf-stable probiotic. However, very long periods (several days to weeks) of time at temps over 90°F can shorten the remaining shelf-life. Between 90-140° it actually starts to activate the bacteria, eventually, if it stays at those temps, the bacteria run out of food (included in the capsule). It isn’t until after they run out of food that the probiotics *start* to die off.  The phages will be fine through all of this.

Probiotic bacteria are designed to live in our intestine, where the temperature is 98.6°F, and the intestines of animals (where the temperatures can be even higher). One day in a hot mailbox may knock a couple of days off the food supply in the capsule, but it will otherwise be fine. If your home is very warm, and routinely gets to over 85°F , or if you plan on keeping your bottles  longer than 18 months past the manufactured date, you may want to put them in the refrigerator.

Separate from their food supply, very high temperatures can kill probiotic bacteria. The four lacto & bifido probiotic strains in the formula won’t be killed until temperatures reach 60°C (140°F). Bacillus Subtilis (DE111) won’t be killed until temperatures reach over 90°C (190°F). Temperatures have to reach 70°C (158°F) to start to kill the phages.  It is actually possible to reach 140°F in a ground/sea shipping container on a very hot day, if the container is left in direct sunlight. This is why I will not ship Phage Complete by slower ground/sea shipping methods.

All shipping will be by Priority Mail (Air). The shipment will go from the postal facility to the plane to postal facility or customs (so no long periods in the sun), and transit times will be far less than ground/sea shipping methods.

The post office says that normal delivery is 1-3 days for U.S. domestic shipping, and 6-10 days for international (though the order may sometimes get caught up customs).  Because all of the long haul legs of the shipment go by air, I don’t expect the shipment to experience very long periods of time at very high temperatures.

The shipping from the manufacturer to me was ground shipping. Therefore I had the shipment go by refrigerated truck the whole trip (actually “chilled”, temps were 33-36°F the entire time, monitored). My storage here, while waiting for fulfillment, is completely environmentally controlled. So Phage Complete will leave here with maximum shelf life and it is guaranteed to have label potency for 18 months from the manufacture date under standard shelf conditions.

This is my long way of saying, shipping Priority Mail should present very little risk. But it is for this very reason that I am not offering a ground shipping option.

If you are still worried there is another trick you can use. Have the package delivered to your post office and pick it up there. The post office will hold your mail in their nice air conditioned building for up to 30 days. Here is how to address it (be sure to use the city/state/zipcode of the post office where you want to pickup your delivery. That zipcode is the most important):

Nicole Smith
c/o General Delivery
Miami, FL 54321