Fragrances are substances possessing strong-smelling organic compounds that have characteristic, pleasant odors. They are used in many products as a perfume, and sometimes a fragrance ingredient can be a flavor ingredient because flavors and fragrances use similar chemical messengers in our body. Fragrances can be made up of potentially hundreds of different ingredients, and typically, fragrances created for cosmetic and cleaning products are dominated by synthetic, as opposed to natural plant-based, ingredients. There are thousands of registered fragrance ingredients made from five classes of compounds: alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, esters, and lactones.
However, many fragrance ingredients are toxic and can pose potential health hazards. Some common fragrance ingredients used in cleaning products can lead to allergies, asthma, and other health problems. In fact, dozens, sometimes even hundreds, of chemicals can hide under one little word – “fragrance” – on the product labels of the beauty and personal care products we use every day. Fragrance suppliers have long enjoyed federal trade secret protections that allow them to hide the ingredients that make our beauty and personal care products smell good.
Manufacturers are not required to disclose the specific ingredients in a fragrance if they choose to define a component or group of components as proprietary and therefore confidential. This is a particular issue with an ingredient found in many personal care products, which is simply listed as “fragrance”.
In summary, fragrances are substances that possess strong-smelling organic compounds used in many products as a perfume. They can be made up of potentially hundreds of different ingredients, and many of these ingredients are toxic and can pose potential health hazards. Manufacturers are not required to disclose the specific ingredients in a fragrance if they choose to define a component or group of components as proprietary and therefore confidential.
