What Does Organic Mean?
The standards for organic vary worldwide. Simply and straightforwardly, the ingredients of organic products must be grown under an agriculture system that does not use artificial substances such as pesticides and fertilizer. To be more specific, according to the international standards that are commonly accepted, organic products cannot contain any artificial spices or skin pigment. It also cannot use oil chemicals including preservatives and surfactants. The main idea behind organic is that its manufacturing process is less harmful to the environment.
What is Organic Skincare?
Organic skincare products must consist of organically farmed and processed plant-derived ingredients. As mentioned above, the standard of organic farming is not globally consistent, but typically it prohibits the use of laboratory-made substances and harmful chemicals such as chemical fertilizers, chemical pesticides, antibiotics, hormones, parabens, sulfates, and GMOs at any point during the manufacturing process. Organic skincare products should not be tested on animals. Organic skincare products should be packaged in environmentally friendly containers such as glass or recyclable plastic to minimize waste and reduce the carbon footprint.
Standards for Organic Skincare in the United States, Europe, and China
In the United States, USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) organic certification is the only standardized, government-regulated system that exists to ensure the safety of foods put in the body and products put on the body. Since FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) does not define the term “organic” when it applies to cosmetics and body care products, if a cosmetic/body care product contains or is made up of agricultural ingredients, and meets the USDA/NOP organic standards, it might be eligible to be certified. Once the cosmetics/body care product is certified, it is eligible for the same 4 organic labeling categories as all other agricultural products. To briefly explain the 4 labels, the “100 percent organic” label means that the product must contain only organically produced ingredients (excluding salt and water); the “organic” label means that the product must contain at least 95 percent organically produced ingredients (excluding salt and water); the “made with organic ingredients” label means that the products contain at least 70 percent organic ingredients; if the product contains less than 70 percent organic ingredients, the product cannot use the term “organic” anywhere on the principal display panel, but they can identify specific USDA certified organic ingredients on the ingredients statement on the information panel.
In Europe, the most used standard for organic cosmetics is COSMOS. For a cosmetics product to be certified as “COSMOS Organic” it must contain the required percentages of organic ingredients, and it must be free from GMOs (genetically modified organisms), parabens, phenoxyethanol, nanoparticles, silicon, PEG, synthetic perfumes, and dyes, animal-derived ingredients, hexane, gluten, phthalates, silicones, sulfates, and ureas.
Compared to the United States and Europe, China’s state certification and accreditation administration canceled the certification for organic cosmetics in 2012. Currently, there are no regulatory agencies or standards to do organic cosmetics certification in China.