Yangcheng Evening News reporter Ma Can and intern Zhang Minnan
As the concept of health takes root in the hearts of the people, safer cosmetics are very popular among beauty lovers.
You see, "food-grade" cosmetics have recently appeared on the market, claiming that "you can eat it, and you can use it on your body!" Wait a minute, can this be so sure?
No, many experts said: This is just a marketing gimmick.
Merchant: The edible lipstick sells best
Guangzhou Miss Chen loves lipsticks, and every time a new variety comes out, she will rush to buy them immediately.
She said that the edible lipsticks on the market are very popular.
Recently, the reporter visited Baiyun Meibo City in Guangzhou and found that many cosmetic shops sell "food-grade" lipsticks.
"This kind of edible lipstick sells best," a merchant recommended to reporters a certain brand of lipstick, saying that its ingredients are "purely natural and very safe."
However, when the reporter checked the ingredient list, he found that among its 15 raw materials, carrot extract ranked in the bottom of the list of ingredients, and most of the rest were common chemical raw materials for making lipsticks.
At the same time, most merchants in Meibo City have opened online shops. The reporter saw from the webpages of these shops that many products claim "healthy lipstick", "edible" and so on.
The reporter noticed that the cosmetics that the merchants call “food grade” mainly involve products such as lipstick and lipstick.
In addition, reporters searched on major e-commerce platforms using keywords such as "edible" and "lipstick", and dozens of pages of query results appeared, most of which were labeled "Eatable Lipstick", and they were labeled as "Has Fighting 10". Ten thousand pieces".
Expert: Food and cosmetics should not be confused
From the reporter's investigation, the support basis for so-called "food-grade" cosmetics comes from the addition of food-grade natural raw materials, and advocates that they do not contain preservatives, flavors and pigments and other substances with certain risks.
These kinds of products often highlight keywords such as natural, organic, edible, safe and non-toxic in the promotion, claiming to be suitable for pregnant women, sensitive skin and even children.
From these promotional features, it is not difficult to see that “food-grade” cosmetics are similar to the “medical beauty masks” that were smashing in the past two years. They all lie in creating a perception that is a higher level of safety than conventional cosmetics. This attracts the attention of consumers.
In the past, in order to highlight the green, healthy, and harmless cosmetics, businesses often used words such as "pure plant" and "pure natural" when advertising.
Nowadays, as these words are banned by relevant departments, some businesses have turned to "food grade" and "edible" banners, implying that consumer products can be eaten in their mouths and used on their bodies.
In this regard, Liu Shaowei, a food safety expert and professor at East China University of Science and Technology, told Yangcheng Evening News that food is food and cosmetics are cosmetics. The two cannot be confused.
He explained that the so-called "food-grade" cosmetics are nothing more than marketing gimmicks for merchants. The description of cosmetics as food is a mixture of fish and eye.
After ordinary cosmetics are labeled "edible", their purpose is mostly to raise prices and increase sales.
Functional department: there is no concept of "food grade" cosmetics
The reporter learned that since this year, market regulatory authorities in many places have issued consumer reminders, saying that there is no concept of "food-grade" cosmetics.
Although the regulatory level has a unified attitude, emphasizing that there is no "food-grade" cosmetics, the reporter noticed that some cosmetics highlight "eatable" in the product title, and the detail page will indicate "not promoting eating, safe enough to eat". In this way, risks are avoided.
Zhu Yi, an associate professor of China Agricultural University, said in an interview with Yangcheng Evening News that if you can make edible cosmetics, you need to produce them in a qualified food factory, meet food safety regulations, have a food SC certificate, and have cosmetics at the same time. effect.
"This is very difficult to achieve. If it is not so, and claiming to be able to eat, it is suspected of false propaganda."
Zhu Yi said that relevant departments should strengthen supervision, protect consumers' right to know, combat false propaganda, and promote the healthy and orderly development of the cosmetics market.