Unilever’s New Level of Transparency

Today, Unilever US announced a new transparency initiative to provide people with access to additional fragrance ingredient information for its personal care products. The initiative goes beyond labeling requirements to provide in-depth product and ingredient information. This year, Unilever will begin to voluntarily expand its current product ingredient lists available through SmartLabel to include the fragrance ingredients in a product’s formulation above 0.01% (100 parts per million). Unilever aims to complete the SmartLabel updates by the end of 2018.


Unilever is launching a new webpage, www.UnileverUSA.com, that provides additional product information, including its approach to developing safe products, explanations of ingredient types, answers to common questions, and access to SmartLabel.


“We believe this initiative will help consumers know more about the products they use every day and build further trust for their favorite Unilever personal care brands,” said Tamara Rogers, EVP-personal care, Unilever United States.


In addition, several of Unilever’s US personal care products are voluntarily labeled to meet the European Union’s current fragrance allergen labeling regulation. Unilever will expand this to its full US personal care portfolio. All of Unilever’s US food and mass market personal care products — totaling 1,800 products — currently participate in SmartLabel. As a US industry initiative, SmartLabel™ provides people with an easy and fast way to get more information about their favorite products—beyond what can be provided on pack.


“Transparency is fundamental to running a sustainable business,” said Kees Kruythoff, President, Unilever North America. “Through SmartLabel and What’s in our Products, we are meeting the needs of our consumers who are increasingly mobile, online, and actively searching for products that are made responsibly and sustainably.”