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Magnesium Carbonate – the Safe Alternative to Talc
Why a Rethink on Functional Ingredients Is Necessary

Why Is Talc Increasingly Viewed Critically?

For decades, talc has been a pre­ferred func­tion­al ingre­di­ent in cos­met­ic, phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal, and food appli­ca­tions – par­tic­u­lar­ly due to its flowa­bil­i­ty, absorp­tion capac­i­ty, and tex­ture-enhanc­ing properties.

How­ev­er, in recent times, con­cerns about the safe­ty of talc have been grow­ing. In addi­tion to the long-stand­ing dis­cus­sion about its asbestos-free sta­tus, pos­si­ble car­cino­genic prop­er­ties and lung dam­age are now also being debated.

Different synonyms are used for this substance depending on the application:

Talc

Mag­ne­sium silikat hydrate

C.I. Pig­ment White 26

Steatite

E 553b (food additive)

Talc (cos­met­ic ingredient)

Soap­stone

What regulatory developments are influencing the use of talc in cosmetics?

Cur­rent­ly, talc is list­ed in Annex III (List of sub­stances that may be used in cos­met­ic prod­ucts only sub­ject to cer­tain restric­tions) of the Cos­met­ics Reg­u­la­tion EC 1223/2009, and there­fore it is not explic­it­ly includ­ed in the ban out­lined in Annex II (List of sub­stances pro­hib­it­ed in cos­met­ic prod­ucts) of the regulation.

Talc free of asbestos is clas­si­fied as a Cat­e­go­ry 1B car­cino­gen under the EU CLP Reg­u­la­tion (as of 2024), par­tic­u­lar­ly with regard to inhala­tion expo­sure. This clas­si­fi­ca­tion has reg­u­la­to­ry impli­ca­tions. Once the CLP Cat­e­go­ry 1B clas­si­fi­ca­tion becomes offi­cial, talc will auto­mat­i­cal­ly fall under Annex II and will then be pro­hib­it­ed in cos­met­ic prod­ucts accord­ing to Reg­u­la­tion 1223/2009. A com­plete ban on talc in cos­met­ic prod­ucts is expect­ed to be imple­ment­ed in the EU by 2027 at the latest.

The search for alter­na­tive ingre­di­ents is already in full swing in the cos­met­ics indus­try, as well as in oth­er indus­tries. A promis­ing and already proven sub­sti­tute is mag­ne­sium car­bon­ate.

What makes magnesium carbonate a functional and safe alternative?

Mag­ne­sium car­bon­ate, or mag­ne­sium hydrox­y­car­bon­ate, is a white, basic alka­line earth salt. It is avail­able in var­i­ous bulk den­si­ties and is a well-estab­lished, safe min­er­al.

In the indus­try, it is known for:

High absorp­tion capac­i­ty for mois­ture and oil.

High chem­i­cal sta­bil­i­ty and biocompatibility.

Asbestos-free nature, as it has no geo­log­i­cal asso­ci­a­tion with amphiboles.

These prop­er­ties make mag­ne­sium car­bon­ate a safe, mul­ti­func­tion­al raw mate­r­i­al that is tech­no­log­i­cal­ly and tox­i­co­log­i­cal­ly supe­ri­or to talc in many applications.

Applications in the cosmetics industry

Texture and functionality:

Improved skin feel: fine par­ti­cles with a silky-mat­te texture

Opti­mized oil and mois­ture absorp­tion: par­tic­u­lar­ly rel­e­vant for pow­der for­mu­la­tions, dry sham­poos, and deodorants

For­mu­la­tion neu­tral­i­ty: mag­ne­sium car­bon­ate is non-occlu­sive and mild­ly basic

In combination with cornstarch (Zea mays starch):

The com­bi­na­tion of 60% mag­ne­sium car­bon­ate and 40% corn­starch cre­ates a syn­er­gis­tic blend for mod­ern formulations:

Fine, soft texture

Hypoal­ler­genic and biocompatible

Improves flowa­bil­i­ty and tex­ture stability

Magnesium carbonate

Applications in food technology

Texture:

Taste: mild­ly basic, bare­ly per­cep­ti­ble at low dosages

Mouth­feel: fine and pow­dery, may appear slight­ly ‘chalky’ at high concentrations

Odor: odor­less

Col­or: white, fine pow­der – visu­al­ly neu­tral in formulations

Technological functions:

Anti-cak­ing agent (e.g., in dry mix­es, spices, dietary supplements)

Acid­i­ty reg­u­la­tor (in effer­ves­cent pow­ders, beverages)

Source of mag­ne­sium (for mag­ne­sium for­ti­fi­ca­tion in func­tion­al foods and dietary supplements)

What product variants are available in our portfolio?

MAGNESIA® 1110000 Extra Light

  • Very fine, free-flow­ing grade
  • Extreme­ly mild, suit­able even for sen­si­tive skin
  • For dec­o­ra­tive cos­met­ics, dry sham­poos, body powders
  • Ori­gin: France

MAGNESIA® 1111000 Extra Light

  • Sus­tain­ably sourced from seawater
  • Opti­mized mois­ture absorp­tion with a pleas­ant texture
  • Ide­al for cos­met­ic pow­der formulations
  • Ori­gin: Japan

Rethinking Talc – Using Magnesium Carbonate Intelligently

In times of stricter reg­u­la­to­ry require­ments and grow­ing con­sumer demands, replac­ing talc has become a neces­si­ty. Mag­ne­sium car­bon­ate presents itself as a sci­en­tif­i­cal­ly backed, safe, and high-per­for­mance solu­tion – offer­ing advan­tages in both tex­ture and functionality.

With the MAGNESIA® prod­uct port­fo­lio, MAGNESIA GmbH sup­ports its cus­tomers in the cos­met­ics, phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal, and food indus­tries in devel­op­ing future-proof and reg­u­la­to­ry-com­pli­ant products.

Contact us now

Thomas Raab and the Phar­ma team sup­ports you with tech­ni­cal know-how and finds tai­lor-made solu­tions for your prod­uct idea. 

Also ask for detailed infor­ma­tion about spec­i­fi­ca­tions, safe­ty data sheets or mate­r­i­al sam­ples.

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+49 4131 8710-0

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Industriegebiet Ost

21337 Lüneburg, Germany

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