Skinfood

Last Updated: February 25, 2024

How Ethical Is Skinfood?

Make a positive impact by supporting companies with the same values and ethics as what matters most to you. To navigate and find ethical brands, here’s a summary of Skinfood’s ethics and initiatives.

Ethical Analysis

Is Skinfood cruelty-free or vegan? We’ve got the answers here! Read below for more details on Skinfood’s policies.

Skinfood is NOT Cruelty-Free. Skinfood engages in animal testing by allowing its products to be animal-tested.

Yes, Skinfood sells its products in stores in mainland China under conditions where animal testing is still legally required.

Is Skinfood Vegan?

Skinfood claims to offer some “vegan” options that are free of animal-derived ingredients, but because Skinfood engages in animal testing, we wouldn’t classify anything sold or produced by Skinfood to be vegan.

Skinfood

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Skinfood is NOT Cruelty-Free!

Skinfood allows its products or ingredients to be tested on animals when required by law including when selling in stores in mainland China.

Skinfood’s Animal Testing Policy

On Skinfood’s website, they claim they don’t test their products or ingredients on animals, however, this is not enough information for us to classify Skinfood or any other brand as being cruelty-free to our standards.

Below is a screenshot of what’s currently stated on Skinfood’s website:

Animal testing for cosmetics can happen at various stages of product development, including at the ingredient level, and is often done by others and not the cosmetic company itself. This is why we always assess a company’s cruelty-free policy using our Cruelty-Free Checklist. This ensures no animal testing was performed by the brand itself, its suppliers, or any third parties.

Skinfood’s statement that their products and ingredients are not tested on animals is not enough information for us to classify Skinfood as cruelty-free according to our standards.

So I reached out to Skinfood to ask for more information about their animal testing policy. More specifically, I wanted to know if they commission or allow others to test, not just their finished products but their ingredients, on animals, including when selling in countries that require animal testing (like in mainland China).

“Yes, SKINFOOD, as a company, does not test on animals. SKINFOOD is sold in China where all cosmetic manufacturers are required to pay a sanitary license fee. It’s our understanding that the Chinese government conducts animal testing before approving the sanitary license. We do not know who conducts this testing or how it is conducted. What we can affirm is that SKINFOOD, as a company, does not test its products on animals.“

Is Skinfood Sold in China?

In the email response, Skinfood admits its products are sold in China and require animal testing by the Chinese government.

But Doesn’t China No Longer Tests on Animals?

Companies can bypass China’s pre-market animal testing by choosing to manufacture their ordinary or general cosmetics in China, but it’s not stated anywhere that Skinfood has taken this route.

Additionally, the possibility of post-market animal testing is not completely ruled out and may be conducted on some cosmetics sold in physical stores in China.

As of May 1, 2021, cosmetic companies can also export and sell their ordinary or general cosmetics in China without animal testing only if they meet a set of preconditions first. However, meeting these conditions has proven difficult, and it’s still unclear what exactly is accepted according to the new regulations. So there’s no word yet of any company that has successfully done so.

Follow the highlighted lines in the graphic below to see why most cosmetics sold in China (like Skinfood) are still required by law to be tested on animals in 2022.

Because Skinfood has decided to sell in mainland China stores, they must consent and pay to have their products tested on animals. That’s why most cosmetics brands selling in mainland China cannot be considered cruelty-free in 2022.

Although Skinfood may not be conducting these animal tests themselves, they knowingly allow Chinese authorities to test their products on animals to sell in China.

For those reasons, we would not consider Skinfood to be cruelty-free by our standards.

Cruelty-Free Policies

Many truly cruelty-free brands have chosen not to sell their products in China because of its animal testing laws. Unfortunately, Skinfood refuses to do the same and therefore cannot be considered cruelty-free.

At ethical elephant, we always assess a company’s cruelty-free policy using our Cruelty-Free Checklist. This ensures no animal testing was performed by the brand itself, its suppliers, and by any third parties, including when required by law.

See below for our complete cruelty-free checklist. Since Skinfood already does not meet the last two, we cannot classify the brand as being cruelty-free.

Is Skinfood Certified Cruelty-Free?

Skinfood is not certified cruelty-free by any third-party cruelty-free certifications like Leaping Bunny or PETA.

Because Skinfood is not certified cruelty-free by a third party, no one is looking into or substantiating Skinfood’s cruelty-free commitments and claims.

Is Skinfood Cruelty-Free?

To sum up, by choosing to sell in mainland China, Skinfood must have its products tested on animals. Therefore, we would NOT consider Skinfood to be a cruelty-free brand.

Currently, Skinfood is on our List of Brands to Avoid – Animal Tested.

Is Skinfood Vegan?

In order for products to be considered vegan by ethical elephant’s standards, the products and their ingredients must not be tested on animals anywhere in the world. Also, they must not contain any animal-derived ingredients or by-products.