A Survey of Preservatives Used in Cosmetic Products

The aim of this study was to indicate the type of preservatives used in selected categories of cosmetic products sold in Poland (part of the EU market) and determine the frequency of their use. The tested products consisted of 200 leave-on cosmetics, viz. body lotions (n = 100) and face creams (n = 100) and rinse-off cosmetics (n = 100) and mascaras (n = 25). The product labels of 325 adult cosmetic products from international brands were analyzed for the presence of preservatives based on the INCI compositions. The survey focused on preservatives included in Annex V of the Regulation (EC) No. 1223/2009 of the European Parliament and Council of 30 November 2009 on cosmetic products. The tested products contained 29 different preservatives belonging to eight chemical groups. Most preservatives were alcohols or their derivatives, carboxylic acids or their salts, or parabens. The most common types were phenoxyethanol, present in 198/325 (60.9%) formulations, followed by sodium benzoate, in 137 (42.2%), potassium sorbate, in 116 (35.7%), benzyl alcohol, in 76 (23.4%), and methylparaben in 33 (10.2%). Also, 33 of the 60 preservatives included in Annex V of Regulation (EC) No. 1223/2009 were not used in any of the tested preparations. In each category of products, the most common were combinations of two preservatives per single product (34.8% of all products), followed by single-preservative products (25.5%) and three-preservative products (19.4%).