Background Skin‐whitening products are in the high trend of demand for skin beautifying and lightening. Sources of ingredients for cosmetics could be natural, semi‐synthetic, and synthetic that may affect the halal status of a product. The lack of scientific evidence on the safety and risks of such ingredients is a major concern to many consumers. Objective This review paper aimed to shed light on the skin‐whitening ingredients and their issues related to safety, health risk, and halal status. Methodology Based on the reviews scientific publications published from January 2015 to July 2020 using Web of Science and Scopus engines. Findings Based on the review, most of the common ingredients in the skin‐whitening products are originated from plants, animals, microbes, and heavy metals. Health risk of the ingredients was evaluated based on the usage, chronic or acute adverse effect, frequency of incidence, and the hazardous chemical contents of a halal cosmetics. The halal status of the ingredients was investigated based on the sources of origin, safety evaluation, and associated health risk of the ingredients. Originality This review shows that ingredients play a vital role in the halal status decision‐making of a cosmetic product. Therefore, the categories of Halal‐Safe, Haram‐Prohibited, and Critical‐Need further evaluation were suggested to integrate the sources of ingredients with safety.

According to the Guidelines for Control of Cosmetic Products in Malaysia provided by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA), Ministry of Health, Malaysia, cosmetic refers to any substance used on external parts of the human body. 1 The use of the cosmetic products is considered a necessity for personal hygiene, improved attractiveness, to protect skin and hair from ultraviolet light and pollutants, and slowing down of the aging process. 2 Cosmetics have been around for a long time and used daily not just by women but men as well. Hence, the consumption of these products is increasing every year. According to the Malaysian Standard on Halal cosmetics-General requirement (MS 2634:2019), 3 the definition of "personal care" is merged as

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Background Concern on cosmetic safety has been a subject of interest in recent years and is commonly associated with the exposure of the consumers to chemicals and impurities such as mercury contamination. Moreover, cancellations of notified cosmetic products were recurrently being reported by the Malaysia authority, namely the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Authority (NPRA). Among the cosmetic categories was skin whitening product, which is still in high demand whilst reported to cause health risks. Besides, low number of studies on cosmetic safety and mercury contamination were recorded in Malaysia. The lack of scientific evidence on the safety and risks of the ingredients used in cosmetic formulation is a major concern to many consumers. Objective The aim of this study was to identify the presence of mercury in skin whitening products, and to identify products containing mercury with the concentration exceeding the limitation of 1 ppm. Methodology A total of 104 whitening products were selected from the market via random sampling technique. The mercury concentration was determined by accredited laboratory, and the results were later compared with the cosmetic guideline of Malaysia and the list of banned products issued by NPRA. Results A total of 51.9% (n = 54) whitening products were found registered under the NPRA Quest system and remaining 48.1% (n = 50) were non‐registered products. None of the whitening products listed mercury as an ingredient, but laboratory analysis showed 15.4% (n = 16) of the products contained mercury with the concentration exceeding the maximum limit of 1 ppm. A total of 87.5% of the whitening products (14 out of 16) containing high mercury concentration were non‐registered products which were not registered in NPRA Quest system. The exceeded concentration recorded ranged between 1.81 ppm and 838 123 ppm. Besides that, 50% (8 out of 16) of the products were found in the list of banned products issued by the NPRA of Malaysia. Conclusions This study presents the status of cosmetic products, particularly the skin whitening products available in Malaysia market. Concern arises when some of the products were found to have presence of harmful substances such as mercury. Even though the presence of mercury in a cosmetic product can either be non‐intentional or intentionally used by the manufacturer in the cosmetic formulation, the impact of the ingredient can cause health risk to the users.

Produk kecantikan merupakan campuran bahan kimia yang berasal daripada sumber semula jadi atau sintetik yang boleh diperoleh daripada pelbagai sumber. Titik kawalan utama untuk ramuan produk kecantikan adalah sumber bahan dan keselamatan. Kedua-dua aspek ini juga perlu selari dan memenuhi keperluan halal-tayyib selari dengan hukum syarak yang membenarkan bahan-bahan yang suci dan selamat dalam sesuatu produk. Justeru, kajian ini mengkaji keselamatan dan status halal ramuan produk kesihatan dan kecantikan dengan merujuk kepada peraturan yang dikuatkuasakan oleh Bahagian Regulatori Farmasi Negara (NPRA) Malaysia dan Hub-Halal JAKIM, Malaysia. Kajian ini mendapati penggunaan produk kecantikan dikategorikan sebagai tahsiniyyah atau pelengkap untuk manusia menjalani kehidupan dengan lebih baik. Penggunaan produk kecantikan memberi keselesaan dan keyakinan kepada penampilan pengguna dalam interaksi seharian. Oleh itu, produk kecantikan mestilah bebas daripada bahan yang haram, najis, dan bahan terlarang yang boleh membahayakan pengguna. Penggunaan produk kecantikan yang mengandungi unsur-unsur ini adalah dilarang oleh hukum syarak. Islam menggalakkan umatnya menjauhi sebarang bentuk kemudaratan demi memelihara kesejahteraan manusia termasuk aspek rohani, jasmani, emosi, dan intelek. Penilaian terhadap keselamatan dan status halal bahan-bahan tersebut akan menjadi lebih mudah melalui pengkategorian berdasarkan spesifikasi yang dikenal pasti mengikut keperluan kosmetik Halal dan peraturan kosmetik badan-badan berkuasa.