Allergy-inducing ingredient detected, but no indication of the ingredient...Be careful with herbal oils like tiger cream
Sep 09, 2025
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It is a product that is mainly applied to the skin or smells through the nose, and is known to be effective in relieving nasal congestion, muscle pain, and stress.
In this regard, the Korea Consumer Agency investigated the safety and labeling and advertising of 15 herbal oil products distributed in Korea and found unmarked allergy-causing ingredients.
Cosmetics, air fresheners, etc. using oil extracted from herbs may contain allergy-causing ingredients derived from plants such as linalool and limonene, and if they exceed the specified content, the product or package shall be marked with such ingredients in accordance with the relevant regulations.
As a result of examining the contents of linalool and limonene of the 15 products surveyed, among the 11 products applied to the skin, limonene was found to be 0.02-2.88% in all products and 0.01-0.62% in linalool in nine products. In the four products that smell through the nose, linalool and limonene were detected in 0.01 to 0.74% of them. However, none of the 15 products displayed the corresponding ingredients.
According to the marked and advertised usage of the 15 products surveyed, cosmetics standards were applied to products applied to the skin, and air freshener standards were applied to products that smell through the nose.
In addition, products containing high-concentration menthol require caution when using infants, but such precautions were not displayed.
Menthol is an ingredient that makes you feel refreshed and cool, and can be used without restrictions on food and cosmetics. However, the European Union (EU) stipulates not to use peppermint oil, whose main ingredient is menthol, because menthol can cause side effects such as apnea and convulsions in infants under the age of 2.
As a result of examining the menthol content of the 15 products surveyed this time, it is 10.0% to 84.8%, so care should be taken not to use high-concentration products for infants and toddlers.
Based on the results of the survey, the Korea Consumer Agency said it received a reply that it would recommend operators to mark cautions on the use of allergy-causing ingredients and infants and improve drug misleading advertisements. It plans to ask relevant ministries to come up with measures to manage herbal oil products.
In addition, when purchasing herbal oil products not only on overseas trips but also in Korea, consumers are advised to carefully check marks and advertisements related to ▲ allergy ingredients and efficacy and effects, and ▲ do not use products containing high concentrations of menthol for infants and toddlers.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
