Surprise! “Organic” sunscreen contaminated with Aspergillus. Recall, ASAP! Next?
Active Ingredients: 15% Zinc-Oxide (non-nano) Inactive Ingredients: Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Purified Water, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, C13-15 Alkane*, Glycerin, Lauroyl Lysine, Polyglyceryl-2 Oleate, Polyhydroxystearic Acid, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Stearalkonium Hectorite, Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate, Dipalmitoyl Hydroxyproline, Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate, Tocopherol, Kappaphycus Alvarezii Extract, Caesalpinia Spinosa Fruit Extract, Melanin, Bisabolol, Hyaluronic Acid, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Phospholipids, Polyglyceryl-2 Stearate, Sodium Chloride, Propylene Carbonate, Isopropyl Titanium Triisostearate, Titanium Dioxide (C.I.77891), Iron Oxides (C.I.77492, C.I. 77491, C.I.77499) *Our C13-15 Alkane is from Sugar Cane, ECOCERT approved, NPA Certified and USDA Biobased.
Incidentally, Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate is known to be adulterated because it doesn’t contain enough endogenous antibacterial/antifungal chemicals to be used as a cosmetic preservative. I discussed this in an old blog post. Apparently, industry people don’t care to read my blog or, more probably, don’t care about what “organic ingredients” do as long as their names sound organic. Not only that, but see the legend: Our C13-15 Alkane is from Sugar Cane, ECOCERT approved, NPA Certified and USDA Biobased. What they can’t say is “safe for human use”, which is the whole point of preservatives we add to cosmetics.
An excerpt from my book: Don’t ask me to use Leuconostoc/radish root ferment filtrate!
References
von Woedtke T, Schlüter B, Pflegel P, Lindequist U, Jülich WD. (1999) Aspects of the antimicrobial efficacy of grapefruit seed extract and its relation to preservative substances contained. Pharmazie, 54:452-6.
Jing Li, Chaytor JL, Findlay B, McMullen LM, Smith, DC, Vederas JC (2015) Identification of Didecyldimethylammonium salts and salicylic acid as antimicrobial compounds in commercial fermented radish kimchi . J. Agric. Food Chem., 63:3053–3058
Hannah