Keep Calm it's Just Allergen Calculation!

If you sell Bath & Body products under EU regulations you must label them correctly.

We posted about EU Cosmetic regulations here

For some time now there has been a list of 26 known allergens.  

Component parts of either Essential Oils or Fragrance oils, (yes, many of these come from natural essential oils) these are substances that are recognised to cause a reaction in some people at higher levels.

In order that those of us prone to allergies can stay informed, the EU regulations require that all cosmetic/toiletry products declare clearly on a label, by name, any of those 26 allergens if they appear above a certain percentage in a final product.

Suppliers of the ingredients that you use must provide Allergen declarations to enable you to work out what is in your finished product.  (It is vital to only use data supplied by the person you bought your ingredient from).

From there you must calculate the percentage of each allergen in your item.  For this you need to know your total weight of ingredient and the amount essential or fragrance oil used.

Obviously if your fragrance allergen data states that there is 0.47% of "linalool" (1of the 26) in the 10ml of fragrance you used in your kilo of bath bomb mix, then the final amount of allergen in the finished bath bombs will be a fraction of the original declared on the data sheet.

The calculation must be performed for each allergen but the allergens only need to be declared if they are present over the following levels;

Leave on products - 0.001%

Wash off products - 0.01%

If you are unsure about which of these categories your particular product falls into please contact your safety assessor.  

Generally speaking soaps and bath bombs would be classed as wash off however this can and should change when a formulation is particularly oil rich therefore it is vital to seek advice if unsure and treat as a leave on product.

If you've got this far, you may be really pleased to know that we have an allergen calculator FREE for you to use. 

FREE ALLERGEN CALCULATOR

As always, if you need advice or help with your cosmetic safety assessment, please contact us

Why not join us for a worskhop? Come and learn how to make bath & body products in a warm and supportive environment where your questions will be answered. Booking now.


Interested in a Cosmetic Safety Assessment package? Find those here