{"id":4499,"date":"2015-07-14T08:49:39","date_gmt":"2015-07-14T13:49:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/?p=4499"},"modified":"2015-07-15T09:13:35","modified_gmt":"2015-07-15T14:13:35","slug":"walmart-takes-important-first-step-on-disclosing-product-ingredients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/2015\/07\/14\/walmart-takes-important-first-step-on-disclosing-product-ingredients\/","title":{"rendered":"Walmart Takes Important First Step on Disclosing Product Ingredients"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jennifer McPartland, Ph.D.<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0is a Health Scientist, Alissa Sasso is a Research Consultant.<\/p>\n

Imagine you\u2019re standing in the shopping aisle looking for a new brand of lotion that won\u2019t irritate your baby\u2019s skin. You find yourself surveying at least a dozen different lotion labels trying to understand and compare product ingredients. The process is frustrating and slow, not to mention confusing\u2014what are some of these things even used for? You\u2019re ready to pull your hair out!<\/p>\n

You are not alone. Inadequate access to ingredient information has long been a systemic problem. Fortunately, the situation is improving. In the past few years, more and more companies have taken action to make product information more transparent to consumers, including, importantly, the sharing of ingredients online. Walmart has recently joined the ranks of these companies. \u00a0Read more to learn what action the retailer has taken. \u00a0<\/p>\n

As outlined in its Sustainable Chemistry Policy<\/a> (Policy), Walmart has started to list the ingredients contained within each of its private label consumable products<\/a>\u2014 personal care and household products that you use up, such as aftershave, baby lotions, cleaners, or pet shampoo\u2014 \u00a0on walmart.com<\/a>. Walmart\u2019s Policy also asks national brand suppliers, like Procter and Gamble, Revlon, and Pro-Sense, to disclose product ingredient information on their own websites.\u00a0\"shopper\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sharing lists of ingredients on Walmart\u2019s website is an important offering for customers. Greater online access to product composition makes it easier to find out what\u2019s in products and to compare ingredients across products so that customers can ultimately make more informed purchasing decisions. This is an especially big deal for cleaning products. If you\u2019ve ever tried to figure out what\u2019s inside a cleaning product while in the store, you know how difficult it can be to find any information about the formula\u2014that\u2019s because, for the most part, ingredients are not required to be disclosed<\/a> on the packaging of cleaning products!<\/p>\n

Available now on Walmart\u2019s website are a list of ingredients for each of the private label products covered by the Policy. See for example, \u201cIngredients\u201d listed under \u201cAbout this item\u201d for a bottle of Equate body wash<\/a>. According to Walmart\u2019s policy implementation guide<\/a>, product ingredients are to be listed in descending order of concentration using a standard naming convention called INCI (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients<\/a>). This standard naming convention is already in use by many product manufacturers<\/a> and creates consistency<\/a> that allows for easier identification and comparison of ingredients across products. In this first round of disclosures, not all of Walmart\u2019s product listings are yet in conformance with the implementation guide; we encourage the retailer to continue to build and improve upon this important first step.<\/p>\n

Here are a few noteworthy examples of industry leadership in this space (though this blog is not meant to be a comprehensive review of all ingredient disclosure practices):<\/p>\n