How we scored it
Carotenoid diacid obtained by hydrolysis of natural crocin; commercial material is extracted intact, no synthetic fragments.
What counts. ISO 16128-2 scores the atoms that remain in the final ingredient. Reagents, solvents, catalysts and protecting groups used during manufacture leave no mass behind and are not counted.
Where it comes from
Produced by extracting crocin from gardenia fruit (Gardenia jasminoides) or saffron and hydrolysing it to crocetin. Gardenia fruit is the dominant low-cost commercial source.
In plain English
A natural orange-red pigment from gardenia fruit or saffron, used as an antioxidant. It is obtained by extracting the fruit and breaking down its pigment compound.
Structure
(2E,4E,6E,8E,10E,12E,14E)-2,6,11,15-tetramethylhexadeca-2,4,6,8,10,12,14-heptaenedioic acid
References
- 1ISO 16128-1:2016 and ISO 16128-2:2017 — Guidelines on technical definitions and criteria for natural and organic cosmetic ingredients and products. ISO, Geneva.
- 2Crocetin. PubChem CID 5281232. National Center for Biotechnology Information. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
- 3CROCETIN. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
- 4CROCETIN. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=CROCETIN