HS-GC-MS method for the analysis of fragrance allergens in complex cosmetic matrices

Potential allergenic fragrances are part of the Cosmetic Regulation with labelling and concentration restrictions. This means that they have to be declared on the ingredients list, when their concentration exceeds the labelling limit of 10 ppm or 100 ppm for leave-on or rinse-off cosmetics, respectively. Labelling is important regarding consumer safety. In this way, sensitised people towards fragrances might select their products based on the ingredients list to prevent elicitation of an allergic reaction. It is therefore important to quantify potential allergenic ingredients in cosmetic products. An easy to perform liquid extraction was developed, combined with a new headspace GC-MS method. The latter was capable of analysing 24 volatile allergenic fragrances in complex cosmetic formulations, such as hydrophilic (O/W) and lipophilic (W/O) creams, lotions and gels. This method was successfully validated using the total error approach. The trueness deviations for all components were smaller than 8%, and the expectation tolerance limits did not exceed the acceptance limits of ± 20% at the labelling limit. The current methodology was used to analyse 18 cosmetic samples that were already identified as being illegal on the EU market for containing forbidden skin whitening substances. Our results showed that these cosmetic products also contained undeclared fragrances above the limit value for labelling, which imposes an additional health risk for the consumer.