Incidental Ingredients
While the ingredient declaration is supposed to contain all of the ingredients and components in a cosmetic product, there is one small exception: incidental ingredients.
Incidental Ingredients are defined in the regulations as:
Components present at insignificant levels which have no technical or functional effect in the cosmetic, which are:
- Substances with no technical or functional effect that were added because they were a component in another cosmetic ingredient which was used in the product;
- Processing aids.
A component of another ingredient.
A blended ingredient is one which has multiple ingredient components within it. Normally all of the component ingredients would need to be declared in the ingredient declaration in the correct order based on their percentage of the whole (see Cosmetic Labeling: Ingredient Declaration). However, in some cases where a component ingredient is so insignificant that it doesn’t do anything in the product it may qualify as an incidental ingredient and may be omitted from the ingredient declaration.
When issuing the regulations, the FDA’s discussion in the Federal Register stated that incidental ingredients would normally be present in trace amounts.
Trace: a minute amount of some constituent in a compound: a quantity so small as to be inferred but not actually measured.1
In the Federal Register notice, the FDA specifically advised that if there was any question about whether an ingredient was “incidental” it should be resolved in favor of declaring the presence of the ingredient. Since ingredients present at less than 1% may be listed in any order, it shouldn’t be too difficult to declare such ingredients.
Example: A flower water containing preservative. When you use the flower water in your product, the amount of preservative that ends up in your product is minuscule and no longer functions as an effective preservative. In that case, the preservative in the flower water is likely an incidental ingredient and does not need to be included in the ingredient declaration for your product.
Example: Your product consisted of all, or nearly all, flower water; and the preservative in the flower water was calculated as part of the overall preservative system for the finished product. In this case, the preservative is not incidental to the finished product and would need to be included in the ingredient declaration.
Processing Aids
Processing aids are ingredients that are used in making the product, but are a functional ingredient in the finished product. Three different types of processing aids are described in the regulations which may be considered incidental ingredients.
Added, then removed:
A substance that is added during the processing of the cosmetic and then removed from the cosmetic before it is packaged is considered a processing aid and therefore an incidental ingredient. Technically, it does not actually exist in the finished product and therefore does not need to be included in the ingredient declaration.
Example: Spritzing a bath bomb with alcohol as a binder. All of the alcohol evaporates: no alcohol is contained in the finished product.
Added, then converted to something already in the product:
A substance that is added to the cosmetic during processing for the technical or functional effect in the processing, but is then converted to something already in the ingredient declaration.
Example: Mixing color additives in water before adding them to melt & pour soap. The amount of water adds to any water already in the product.
Added for processing, but insignificant amounts and effect in the product:
A substance which is added during the processing for its functional or technical effect in the processing, but is only present at an insignificant and non-functional level in the finished product.
Example: Adding citric acid to liquid soap to neutralize any excess lye. The amount of citric acid should be insignificant and has no effect in the final product.
Closing the loophole
Some unscrupulous manufacturers have used the incidental ingredients exception as a loophole to get out of disclosing “undesirable” substances in the ingredient declaration. For example, there have been cases where sodium hydroxide in cold process soap or propylene glycol in melt and pour soap have been treated (incorrectly and illegally) as “processing aids” and so not declared in the product’s ingredient declaration.
The only time something should be omitted from the ingredient declaration as an “incidental ingredient” is when the ingredient is present as such a small level that it can barely be measured or when it isn’t actually in the finished product AND it has zero functional or technical effect in the product. If in doubt, put it in the ingredient declaration.
1 "trace, n.6c". OED Online. March 2023. Oxford University Press.
