Dehydroacetic Acid
حمض الديهيدرو أسيتيك
Preservative · INCI: Dehydroacetic Acid
The verdict
A common preservative — fine at current limits, but its safety is under active review.
What it is
A preservative often marketed as a 'gentle/natural-friendly' alternative.
A broad-spectrum preservative popular in 'clean'/natural-leaning formulas, capped at 0.6% in the EU and banned in sprays. The honest flag: its safety is being actively re-examined — the Cosmetic Ingredient Review re-opened its assessment over reproductive-toxicity data, and there are scattered reports of allergic skin reactions. Not alarming at current limits, but a 'watch this space' ingredient.
Evidence & status
IARC carcinogen group
not_classified
EU status
Annex V permitted preservative (0.6% as acid; no sprays) per most recent published list (2024–2025). UNDER ACTIVE CIR re-opening / CLP review for reproductive toxicity — status may change.
US · FDA status
FDA: permitted preservative (e.g., cut/peeled squash ≤65ppm); CIR re-opened safety assessment (2023, DART data)
Halal status: halal
Synthetic; halal/vegan.
Also known as
DHA · 3-Acetyl-6-methyl-2H-pyran-2 · 4(3H)-dione · 16807-48-0
Primary source
Evidence, not medical advice. You decide.
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