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FDA Final Rule on Detention of Food
On February 4, 2013, the FDA announced a final rule amending the criteria for administrative detention to prevent potentially unsafe food from reaching the marketplace. While this doesn’t apply to soap, cosmetics, forestry, or small woodland ownership (my usual blog topics), there were some issues in it on which t I just had to comment.
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Ingredient Labels for Soap
Soap can be a chameleon – a consumer commodity, a cosmetic, an insecticide or a drug. Whether or not the ingredient declaration is required, depends on what is, how the soap is made, and what claims are made about it.
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Master Formulas – Not Just Ingredients
Master Formulas are a key part of Good Manufacturing Practices. They’re more than just a list of ingredients; they document what makes your products uniquely yours. Your Master Formulas should contain every step, trick, and technique you use to make your product—and it should be written in sufficient detail that someone with reasonable familiarity with […]
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Nova Studio Classes – October 14, 2012
I will be at the Nova Studio on Sunday, October 14th 2012 giving two classes; one on Soap and Cosmetic Labeling, and the other on Good Manufacturing Practices. You can see the details for the Soap and Cosmetic Labeling class here. We’ll be covering all of the basics of labeling. The class will be hands-on, […]
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Calculating the Net Weight of Soap (Part 2)
In Part 1 of this series, we discussed how to calculate the net weight of your soap over time by weighing actual bars and seeing what happened to them. That works if you know where your soap will be and can rely on the fact that the environment won’t change much. If your soap may be […]
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How & Why to Keep Lot Numbers
Last week The Nova Studio posted a great post, Why You Should Care About Lot Numbers, detailing their experiences on finding out that the San Francisco Herb & Natural Food Company in Fremont, CA had a bad rodent infestation & was recalling over a dozen of their products that may have been infested with droppings. The news report […]
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Castor Oil Toxicity?
I was recently asked about castor oil, and whether there was a need to buy “detoxified” castor oil for use in soap. I’ve used castor oil in my soap for a long time because it makes marvelous creamy lather, but I did check into the toxicity issue.
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Calculating the Net Weight of Soap (Part 1)
When you are labeling soap, one of the problems you run into is figuring out the net weight to put on the label. Since water will continue to evaporate out of the soap over time, the soap will gradually come to weigh less, even after the initial “cure time.” When the consumer is deciding whether […]
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8 GMP Documentation Tips
Good manufacturing practices rest solidly on documentation, documentation, and more documentation. You could be (and possibly are) doing everything right, and ensuring that your product is of the highest possible quality each and every time. But is it all documented? Without accurate and detailed documentation, your GMP will never be fully in place. While it […]
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6 Things to Consider When Printing Your Own Labels
Whether your labels look “professional” or “homemade” can affect how well your product sells. When you are printing your own labels, here are some basics that will help your labels achieve that polished, professional look. It doesn’t take much, just some attention to detail and making sure that all the pieces work together.
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Eight Requirements for Good Manufacturing Practices
There are eight main types of information and documentation that must be considered and addressed when implementing your good manufacturing practices. While each plays a part, they are inter-related; you can get an overview on good manufacturing practices in general by understanding these eight different areas.
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Measuring Text Sizes For Labels
One of the most common labeling errors is using type that is too small on your label. So how do you determine the right size of type? And what font size is that? The right size of type is determined by the size of the container (not the size of the label itself), and the […]
Helping you undersand soap and cosmetic regulations — in plain English.