Tuesday, June 22, 2010

NPA Requiring All-Natural Fragrances Receive Certification

Do you love the smell of 100% natural jasmine sambac absolute in your perfume?  Do you love the smell of this gorgeous jasmine sambac blossom of Grand Duke of Tuscany?  Why am I asking?  The NPA has just dropped another bomb on the artisan natural perfumer like me.  They require certification for naturals now.  Do you love the "real" rose absolute, jasmine, and other absolutes in your fragrances?  Help us stop this!  If you want all of your fragrances to be 100% synthetic and made in a laboratory from chemicals ...then do nothing.  Please read on...

WASHINGTON—Beginning Sept. 1, 2010, the Natural Products Association (NPA) will require all-natural fragrances in finished natural products to receive certification in its Natural Standard for Personal Care Products program. This change effectively eliminates absolutes and concretes, common fragrance ingredients that require the use of petrochemical solvents for extraction, and purely synthetic additives. NPA will continue to allow some synthetic preservatives, limited to those already allowed in the standard, in order to maintain the importance of safe ingredients yet emphasize the use of natural preservatives when applicable. Additionally, NPA will publish an updated “allowed processes” appendix to include extraction, expression and steam distillation to encourage these manufacturing processes for fragrance mixtures. Companies will be required to submit a qualitative list to the NPA that includes the INCI name and CAS number of each component in the composition.

NPA does not want to add additional and arduous labeling requirements for certified products, and will not require anything more than following current INCI labeling procedures where “fragrance” is listed in the ingredient list. Further clarification of using an asterisk (*) on the term “fragrance” and placing a disclaimer underneath and outside the list stating the fragrance is natural is acceptable.

Companies should at least provide the INCI nomenclature (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients) for each ingredient, although products with longer ingredient lists have other options available, such as listing all components on the company’s Web site or on additional pages in the primary packaging. Additional options include listing Chemical Abstract (CAS) numbers for all ingredients, listing the plant sources and specifying “derived from,” or a combination of options.

To achieve NPA natural certification on personal care products, companies must demonstrate the use of natural fragrances by providing documentation stating the complete composition of each mixture. Companies with previously certified products should meet the requirement when their recertification comes due.

Cara Welch, Ph.D., the NPA’s scientific and regulatory affairs manager, said, “This new requirement is the first step of many in the evolution of the standard, as the association continually moves toward strengthening the standard.”

Sources:

NPA: Natural Products Association to Require Certified Products to have “100% Natural Fragrances”