What is it?
Plankton extract is an extract of marine plankton, the tiny organisms that drift with ocean currents. Plankton ranges from bacteria and microscopic algae (phytoplankton) to small animals (zooplankton), and the ingredient name does not say which organisms were used. In cosmetics, plankton extract is used in skin care as a skin conditioning agent.
Key information
- Plankton extract comes from marine plankton, which can include bacteria, microalgae and tiny animals.
- The EU lists it as a skin conditioning agent with no restrictions.
- We found no independent safety review or published studies of the ingredient, and no published reports of problems.
- Marine ingredients need testing for naturally occurring heavy metals, toxins and allergens.
More information
The EU’s cosmetic ingredient database, CosIng, defines plankton extract simply as “an extract obtained from marine plankton” and lists it as a skin conditioning agent, with no restrictions and no opinion from the EU’s Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS). Because plankton includes representatives from all kingdoms of life, two products labeled “plankton extract” may contain quite different material.
Scientists regard plankton as a vast and largely untapped source of useful natural compounds. A 2023 review of marine cosmetic ingredients notes, for example, that phytoplankton are rich in lipids and omega-3 fatty acids. Like many plant and algae extracts, however, plankton extract has had little study on its own. We found no safety review by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) or the SCCS, and no published studies of the ingredient, either showing benefits or reporting problems.
The main practical question for any marine ingredient is purity. The same 2023 review stresses that marine-derived ingredients must be checked for heavy metals that occur naturally in the sea, such as cadmium, lead, arsenic and mercury, as well as for toxins and allergens. On labels, it appears as “plankton extract”; the label will not tell you which organisms it came from.
Sources: European Commission CosIng: Plankton Extract; Marine Drugs (2013): Bioprospecting marine plankton; Marine Drugs (2023): Marine natural products as innovative cosmetic ingredients
