Who We Are

The Expert Panel for Fragrance Safety is an independent panel of experts that reviews the activities of the Research Institute for Fragrance Materials (RIFM) for consumers, official agencies, and the industry. To that end, the Expert Panel provides strategic guidance, determines scientific study design, and interprets test results for relevance to human health and environmental protection. The Expert Panel selects its own members, who serve on a rotating basis. It is comprised of internationally known academic scientists, including dermatologists, pathologists, toxicologists, and environmental scientists. Additional expertise is provided by adjunct groups with knowledge in genetic toxicity, respiratory science, reproductive effects, environmental fate, and epidemiology.		      

The Expert Panel

The Panel determines safety of use for fragrance ingredients through consideration of available information and active generation of additional data. Its independent conclusions are presented to professional, scientific, and medical societies and are published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. When important for consumer and environmental protection, decisions of the Expert Panel regarding restrictions of use are published as International Fragrance Association (IFRA) Standards.

UPCOMING MEETING / September 25–27, 2024

Tarrytown, NY

Upcoming Meetings

MEETING MINUTES

The Expert Panel meets approximately three times per year to review, evaluate, and assess the safety of fragrance materials. Minutes for each meeting are maintained to allow the Panel to track work completed, decisions made, and actions taken.

  Meeting Minutes   

Meet the Experts


The Expert Panel for Fragrance Safety is comprised of internationally recognized academic scientists from multiple disciplines dedicated to evaluating and assessing the safety of fragrance materials.

Expert Panel Members

The Fragrance Material Resource Center

Publications reviewed by the Expert Panel for Fragrance Safety are published on an open-source, publicly available, website sponsored by Elsevier's Food and Chemical Toxicology Journal. The Fragrance Material Safety Resource Center features:

• Robust Summaries of Fragrance Ingredient Safety Assessments
• The 2015 revision of the Criteria for the Research Institute for Fragrance Materials (RIFM) Safety Evaluation Process for Fragrance Ingredients
• Scientific methodology papers
• An archive of earlier publications on the safe use of fragrance materials
• Other scientific publications supporting the safe use of fragrance materials globally
Click Here to enter the Resource Center

RIFM Fragrance Ingredient Safety Assessment Authorship and Process

The Expert Panel for Fragrance Safety is an independent, international team of academic scientists with no ties to the fragrance industry. The panel assesses the safety of fragrance ingredients from all toxicological and environmental perspectives. They review, approve, and co-author all of the Research Institute for Fragrance Material’s Safety Assessments and submit them for peer-reviewed publication. RIFM Safety Assessments are dynamic “living” documents, and RIFM reevaluates materials on a rolling five-year basis to help ensure safe conditions of use. When a Safety Assessment is updated, peer-reviewed, and published, only the most up-to-date version will be available on the open-access Fragrance Material Resource Center (fragrancematerialsafetyresource.elsevier.com). Previous versions of the assessments remain available on the Food and Chemical Toxicology site or from Science Direct. 

Click here for a list of RIFM Safety Assessments that have been reviewed with no changes.