Ingredient Index

No: the EU never banned Red Dye 3 outright; it restricts erythrosine (E127) to cocktail and candied cherries, while the US went further and banned it from food entirely in January 2025.

No: despite what most lists claim, Red Dye 40 is legal in the EU; products containing it must carry a warning that it "may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children," which is why most European brands reformulated voluntarily.

No. Yellow 5 (tartrazine, E102) is legal in the EU but must carry a warning about effects on children's activity and attention, a label most European brands chose to avoid by reformulating.

No. Yellow 6 (Sunset Yellow, E110) is legal in the EU; like the other Southampton dyes it must carry a children's-activity warning, which is why European versions of orange snacks use paprika instead.

No. Blue 1 (Brilliant Blue, E133) is legal in both the EU and the US; it is not one of the six Southampton dyes, so it carries no EU warning label, just category-specific maximum levels.

Yes: titanium dioxide (E171) has been banned as a food additive in the EU since February 2022, while the FDA still permits it in US food at up to 1% by weight.

Yes: potassium bromate has been banned in EU food since 1990, while the FDA still permits it in US bread and flour at up to 75 parts per million.

Yes: brominated vegetable oil has never been authorized in EU food, and the US finally agreed: the FDA revoked its authorization in July 2024, with compliance required from August 2025.

Yes: azodicarbonamide is prohibited as a food additive in the EU, while the FDA still permits it as a dough conditioner in US flour at up to 45 parts per million.

No. BHA is restricted, not banned, in the EU: permitted only in specific food categories at low maximums, while the US allows it broadly as GRAS at up to 0.02% of a food's fat content.

No. BHT is restricted, not banned, in the EU: authorized only for specific food categories at capped levels, while the US permits it broadly as GRAS across packaged foods.

No. TBHQ is restricted, not banned, in the EU: permitted at up to 200 mg/kg in specific categories, while the US allows it broadly at up to 0.02% of a food's fat content.

No: aspartame is authorized in both the EU and the US at comparable intake limits; the 2023 IARC "possibly carcinogenic" classification made headlines but changed no regulation on either side.

No. Food-grade carrageenan (E407) is authorized across the EU food supply; the EU's one prohibition is in infant formula, and the "banned in Europe" claim usually confuses it with degraded carrageenan, which both jurisdictions ban.

No: sodium nitrite is legal in cured meats on both sides of the Atlantic; the EU tightened its maximum levels in 2023, while US limits remain generally higher.

No: polysorbate 80 is authorized in both the EU and the US with broadly similar treatment: an approved emulsifier with maximum levels per food category.

In effect, yes: olestra was never authorized as a food additive in the EU, while the FDA has permitted it since 1996; the market, not the regulator, removed it from most US shelves.

Functionally yes, on both sides: the EU capped industrial trans fats at 2 g per 100 g of fat in 2021, and the US had already eliminated PHOs by revoking their GRAS status in 2015; this is one regulatory gap that has closed.

Yes: the EU has prohibited recombinant bovine growth hormone since 1990 (made permanent in 1999), while the FDA has permitted it in US dairy herds since 1993.

Yes: EU rules permit only water for removing surface contamination from poultry, so standard US chemically-rinsed chicken cannot be sold in the EU; the practice is legal and routine in the US.

No: the EU renewed glyphosate's approval in December 2023 for ten more years, with new conditions and room for member states to restrict further; the US EPA permits it broadly.

Yes, by a law already on the books: the EU's 2025 Packaging Regulation bans food-contact packaging with intentionally added PFAS above strict thresholds from August 12, 2026; the US has no federal ban, relying on an FDA-brokered voluntary phase-out and a patchwork of state laws.

No, not as a class: the EU caps total parabens at 0.8%, caps propyl- and butylparaben at 0.14%, bans five little-used parabens outright, and prohibits them in diaper-area products for under-3s; the US sets no paraben-specific limits at all.

Yes: formaldehyde is prohibited as an ingredient in EU cosmetics, and products releasing more than 10 ppm from donor preservatives must carry a "releases formaldehyde" warning; the US has no federal cosmetics ban, though an FDA proposal targeting hair-smoothing products is pending.

No: DMDM hydantoin is legal in the EU as a preservative up to 0.6%, with a mandatory "releases formaldehyde" label above the release threshold; the US permits it with no concentration limit.

Yes: quaternium-15 is prohibited in EU cosmetics (Annex II), while the US still permits this formaldehyde-releasing preservative with no concentration limit.

DBP, yes: dibutyl phthalate is prohibited in EU cosmetics as a reproductive toxicant, while the FDA permits it; but "phthalates" is a family, and one member (DEP) remains legal even in the EU.

No, restricted, not banned: since 2022 the EU caps oxybenzone at 2.2% in body products and 6% in face products, while the FDA still allows 6% in any sunscreen; the actual bans are state and territorial reef laws like Hawaii's.

No: octinoxate is legal in both markets, and the EU actually allows a higher maximum (10%) than the FDA's 7.5%; EU scientists are re-reviewing it for endocrine effects, and Hawaii bans it for reef reasons.

No, restricted: since 2022 the EU limits homosalate to face products at a maximum of 7.34%, while the FDA allows up to 15% in sunscreens applied anywhere.

No: octocrylene is permitted at up to 10% in both the EU and the US; the live issue is benzophenone, a contaminant that forms as octocrylene products age, which EU scientists are watching.

No, and the bigger news is on the other side of the Atlantic: in June 2026 the FDA finally approved bemotrizinol, the first new sunscreen filter it had cleared since 1999. Europe has allowed it up to 10% for years; the US now permits up to 6%, with formulators able to use it from August 2026. Legal in both, at last.

Not yet: talc remains legal in EU cosmetics under strict purity rules, but Europe's 2024 classification of talc as a category 1B carcinogen puts it on track for an automatic EU cosmetics ban, expected around 2027; the UK has formally declined to follow.

No: the EU restricts triclosan to a short list of product types at 0.3% or less; in a twist, the US is stricter where it matters most, having banned it from consumer antiseptic washes in 2016.

Yes: hydroquinone is banned in EU cosmetics (a 0.02% allowance survives only in professional artificial-nail systems), and the US has been converging: the 2020 CARES Act ended its over-the-counter status, leaving prescription use.

No, but nearly: the EU banned methylisothiazolinone from leave-on cosmetics in 2017 and caps it at 15 ppm in rinse-off products, while the US sets no binding limit.

Yes: zinc pyrithione has been banned in EU cosmetics since March 2022 as a category 1B reproductive toxicant, while the FDA still allows it at up to 2% in US anti-dandruff shampoos.

Yes: TPO, the photoinitiator that makes most gel nail polish cure under UV lamps, has been banned in EU cosmetics since September 1, 2025 as a category 1B reproductive toxicant; it remains legal in US salons.

Yes: lilial (butylphenyl methylpropional), once one of the most-used floral notes in perfumery, has been banned in all EU cosmetics since March 2022 as a reproductive toxicant; it remains legal in the US, though the fragrance industry's own standards now prohibit it.

No: toluene is restricted, not banned: EU law permits it only in nail products at up to 25% with warning labels, while the US sets no cosmetic-specific limit; market pressure, not law, removed it from most polish on both continents.

Yes: crude coal tar is banned in EU cosmetics as a carcinogen, while the FDA still permits it in over-the-counter dandruff and psoriasis shampoos at 0.5% to 5%.

Yes, and for once the US matched it: the EU prohibits lead acetate in all cosmetics, and the FDA repealed its US hair-dye authorization in 2018 (compliance by 2021), ending the classic Grecian Formula recipe.

Yes: mercury and its compounds are banned in EU cosmetics; the US allows only unavoidable traces below 1 ppm (with a narrow eye-area preservative exception), and the real danger in both markets is illegally imported skin-lightening creams.

No: sodium lauryl sulfate is legal in both the EU and the US with no concentration ban; the "SLS is banned in Europe" claim is simply false, and the EU's only stipulations are general safety and manufacturing-purity standards.

No: SLES is legal in both the EU and the US; the genuine issue is a manufacturing byproduct, 1,4-dioxane, which the EU controls through purity standards and New York now caps by state law.

No: phenoxyethanol is legal everywhere: the EU caps it at 1%, and US practice follows the same 1% by industry convention rather than law; it is the preservative that replaced parabens.

No, restricted: as of November 2025 the EU caps retinol at 0.3% in face and hand products and 0.05% in body lotions, while the US sets no limit and 1%+ products remain common.

Yes: methylene glycol is formaldehyde dissolved in water, so the EU's formaldehyde prohibition covers it and true Brazilian-blowout formulas cannot be sold there; the US still permits them while an FDA ban proposal sits unfinished.

No: properly refined mineral oil is legal in EU cosmetics; EU law requires proof of the full refining history so carcinogenic impurities (PAHs) are absent, a documentation standard the US does not impose.

No: Vaseline-grade petrolatum is legal in EU cosmetics; the EU prohibition applies only to unrefined petrolatum whose refining history can't be shown to have removed carcinogenic impurities.

No: sucralose (E955) is authorized as a sweetener in both the EU and the US, so the "banned in Europe" claim is a myth. Both jurisdictions set maximum levels by food category.

No: acesulfame potassium (E950) is approved in both the EU and the US and is treated almost identically in each, including the same kind of per-category maximum levels.

No: sodium nitrate (E251) is not banned in the EU. It's restricted to cured meats, and the EU tightened its maximum levels in October 2025, while the US permits it under limits that tend to run higher.

No: sulfites (E220 to E228) are permitted in both the EU and the US, with mandatory allergen labeling above 10 mg/kg on each side and somewhat tighter EU caps, especially in wine.

No: caramel color IV (E150d) is permitted in both the EU and the US. The EU caps its 4-MEI byproduct at 200 mg/kg, and California's Prop 65 pushed US makers of major colas to reduce 4-MEI too.

No, the opposite: sodium cyclamate (E952) is permitted as a sweetener in the EU but has been banned by the FDA in the US since 1969, one of the few cases where America is the stricter jurisdiction.

Yes: benzene is banned for use in cosmetics in the EU as a known human carcinogen, and the recent US story is about benzene turning up as a manufacturing contaminant, not as an intentional ingredient.

No: kojic acid is restricted, not banned, in the EU. Since the 2024 amendment it's allowed only in face and hand products at up to 1%, while the US sets no specific concentration limit.

Yes: prostaglandin analogues, the active compounds in many lash-growth serums, are prohibited in EU cosmetics, while the US lets synthetic versions like isopropyl cloprostenate sell over the counter.

No: PPD (p-phenylenediamine) is restricted, not banned, in the EU. It's allowed in permanent hair dye at up to 2% after mixing but barred from direct skin use, and the US permits it in hair dye as well.