Following the mandate given by the European Commission, the SCCS has assessed the safety of Citral (a fragrance ingredient, listed as an allergen) with regard to its sensitising potential. The Scientific Committee has just published its final Opinion.
Background
Citral (CAS No.5392-40-5, EC No.226-394-6) is a mixture of neral and geranial, widely used as a fragrance ingredient various cosmetic products.
It has been subject to a safety evaluation by SCCP in 2008 (SCCP/1153/08) using the QRA methodology and by the SCCS in 2012 (SCCS/1459/11) in the context of the Opinion on Fragrance Allergens.
It is currently regulated in entry 70 of Annex III to the Cosmetics Regulation: the presence of the substance must be indicated in the list of ingredients when its concentration exceeds 0.001% in leave-on products and 0.01% in rinse-off products.
The Commission requests the SCCS to assess whether the derived safe use levels for Citral by application of the QRA2 based on the induction of skin sensitisation is adequate to protect consumers.
The SCCS published its preliminary Opinion in March 2024.
For an exhaustive background information, see the articles
• Citral: Request for an Opinion to SCCS, CosmeticOBS, 21 February 2022
• Citral: preliminary Opinion of the SCCS, CosmeticOBS, 9 April 2024
This Opinion has been subject to a commenting period of eight weeks after its initial publication (from 4 April to 2 June 2024). Comments received during this period were considered …
