TAGS: Natural/ Organic
To help you ease your COSMOS certification process, here's a step by step guide on how to fill the COSMOS formula submission form; the so-called MIPS (multiple-ingredient product specifications).
The MIPS is a spreadsheet, where all ingredients are broken down according to the COSMOS classification for raw materials:
- PPAI
- PPAI organic
- CPAI
- CPAI organic
- SyMo or PeMo, and
- NNI
The aim of completing the MIPS is to
check that your formula complies with the COSMOS criteria. It is like setting out a laboratory formula with ingredients percentages on, where they are broken down according to the PPAI, SYMo or PeMo content and so on.
All COSMOS products allow a maximum content of SyMo or PeMo of 2%, so this is a key parameter for the formula.
In the case of COSMOS Organic you also need to check:
- The minimum organic percentage of the finished product (20% for leave-on and 10% for rinse-off, mineral-based products etc.)
- The minimum organic percentage of the PPAIs, i.e. 95%
- Compulsory organic ingredients such as alcohol, palm oil, and almond oil
Step by Step Guidance with Practical Example
As an example, I shall use a simple made-up organic formula for a leave-on product using COSMOS approved raw materials. I have not listed the trade names and suppliers here as the focus is on the calculations. You will still need to enter these in your MIPS though.
- Cetearyl alcohol, 5%
- Organic olive oil, 5%
- Xanthan gum, 0.5%
- Organic glycerin, 5%
- Organic alcohol, 20%
- Organic aloe vera gel, 20%
- Organic lavender oil, 0.5%
- Water, 44%
Step 1
Start entering the data for each
ingredient on the spreadsheet: supplier, trade name,
INCI name/names, certification body (COSMOS approved or compliant), the total percentage in the finished product.
Step 2
Find out the COSMOS classification for all raw materials (this information can be found on the COSMOS database), for example, the ethanol used in this formula is 95.37% CPAI and 95.35% CPAI organic, organic olive oil is 100% PPAI and 100% PPAI organic and so on.
Step 3
Enter the percentages for the relevant categories of the ingredient including the total percentage in the finished product. For example organic alcohol at 20%, with a CPAI content of 95.37%, so you need to enter this figure in the CPAI% of ingredient and repeat for the column for the organic CPAI%.
The spreadsheet will calculate automatically the percentage in the finished product, i.e. 19.07%. The spreadsheet will generate all the percentages in the finished product for evaluation. Keep doing the same for each ingredient following the COSMOS components.
Here is how the MIPS look like:
(Click on the image to see the enlarged version)
To be more concise, I used a table where I entered all the components to spot the percentage requirements in one go. In this case, the PeMo is 0%, 100% of the PPAIs is organic and the total organic percentage is 64.41.
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