Australia's SPF retest: 16 of 20 sunscreens missed their label. Lessons for R&D
The Australian sunscreen results from last year still come up in industry conversations. Consumer group CHOICEsent20sunscreens labeled SPF50 or 50+ to an accredited lab, and16 fell short of their claim.
Key points
- Only 4 products met their label
- The lowest measured around SPF 4; CHOICE says it sent a different batch to a separate lab in Germany and got a similar result
- CHOICE asked the regulator (TGA) for compliance testing of products on shelves, and the ACCC to look at whether claims were misleading
- It also argued that relying on manufacturer-supplied test reports may not give shoppers accurate information
- At the same time it stressed that any sunscreen is better than none
What R&D teams take from it
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SPF testing can vary a lot by lab, panel and application method.
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Many say batch-to-batch reproducibility and filter dispersion stability now matter more than a single certificate.
When your team settles on an SPF number, how many labs and test rounds do you rely on?
Source: CHOICE — 16 of 20 sunscreens didn't meet SPF claims in CHOICE test
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