Potassium Sorbate Application In Cosmetics

What Is Potassium Sorbate?

Potassium sorbate is a preservative found in food, skin care, cosmetics, and personal care products. It is the potassium salt of a naturally occurring compound known as sorbic acid. This ingredient kills microorganisms and prevents the growth of bacteria, fungi, and mold.

Potassium sorbate occurs naturally from the vibrant berries of the rowan tree (Sorbus aucuparia) or mountain-ashes, which are shrubs or trees known for their hardiness in cold weather. In its pure form, potassium sorbate is a white, water-soluble salt that appears as small grains or crystals.

While potassium sorbate can be naturally sourced, the most common way of producing potassium sorbate is through synthetic methods; specifically, by neutralizing sorbic acid with hydrogen peroxide. The result is a compound identical to that found in nature.

Benefits and Uses of Potassium Sorbate

Potassium sorbate has a wide variety of uses. This mild preservative has been valued for decades for its antimicrobial properties, and is an especially effective food preservative found in dehydrated meats, dairy products, and pastries. It’s especially common in dried fruit and is also often used to help preserve wine.

Food additive Potassium sorbate can prevent the growth of fungi, mold, yeast, and other potentially harmful foodborne pathogens. Although this natural preservative isn’t as effective against bacteria, and will need to be complemented with other preservatives, such as rosemary or sodium benzoate.

Potassium sorbate makes an effective preservative in food, but this ingredient’s antimicrobial and antifungal properties are easily transferred to skin care and cosmetic products. Since this cosmetic preservative potassium sorbate is a viable alternative to more harmful parabens, it’s become quite popular in clean skin care and natural makeup. As a result, potassium sorbate is often used in products at a concentration of up to 1% as a preservative.

However, in recent years, the word “preservative” has developed a strange stigma as something that’s dangerous or harmful to our health – but this assumption needs to be talked about to be fully understood.

Is Potassium Sorbate Safe?

So, what exactly do the experts say about potassium sorbate’s ingredient safety?

According to studies, potassium sorbate has been deemed as a safe ingredient in personal hygiene and cosmetic products. They use trials in which subjects used potassium sorbate at levels of 10%, which is far higher than the concentrations used in cosmetics. It was found that even at this level, potassium sorbate caused no irritation to the eyes, and was only mildly irritating to the skin.

According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), potassium sorbate ranks as a 3 on a scale from 1 to 10 with, 1 being the lowest health risk and 10 being the highest. While some individuals are allergic to potassium sorbate, this occurrence is quite rare.

The FDA reviewed potassium sorbate as a preservative ingredient, and has also determined that it’s Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) as a preservative for direct addition to food.