Consumer Goods Testing

As the main concern for both manufacturer and consumers, product safety becomes the norm in the changing global market. Customers expect to buy healthy and safe products while manufacturers and retailers make efforts to ensure their products meet consumers' expectations together with the required safety, regulatory and government standards. Poor quality products can lead to consumer dissatisfaction and product returns with negative impact on brand image. The testing of any consumer goods, raw materials, and parts is required to ensure the product safety and increase the consumer's trust towards the products.

As a global leader in the testing of consumer goods, Alfa Chemistry conducts tests in compliance with national and international standards, such as European Standards and Directives (e.g. EU Toy Directive, REACH), American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC), ASTM International (ASTM), the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and so on. With state-of-the-art instruments and experienced scientists, Alfa Chemistry utilizes approved testing methods to help you achieve regulatory compliance and precisely identify where hazards are likely to occur and where some crucial corrective actions are needed to be conducted. We can offer an extensive range of specialized testing services for a variety of products including beauty products, stationery, office supplies, toys & children products, home decor & decoration, footwear & apparel and safety assessment for these products.

Beauty Products Testing

Beauty products, including fragrances, makeup, hair care & coloring products, sunscreen, toothpaste, bathing, nail care, etc. are necessities in people's daily lives. They can present as powder, block, paste, putty and liquid etc. Alfa Chemistry is well-equipped to offer you specialist expertise for beauty products testing including analysis for either finished products or raw materials and can provide quality assured data to help you understand and mitigate sources of potential risk. A number of substances are restricted in the beauty products. The typical test items for beauty products include:

• Heavy metal contamination (Lead, Mercury, etc.)

• Ingredient and package label review

• Microbial contamination (USP 61&62)

• Efficacy of antimicrobial preservation (USP51)

• Toxicity testing (skin toxicity test, eye irritation test etc.)

• Organic chemical substances (methanol, formaldehyde, allergic fragrances etc.)

Stationery and Office Supplies Testing

Students and office workers come into contact with stationeries products on a daily base. Your stationery and office supplies need to comply with the applicable quality and safety standards, especially in products for use by children. With well-equipped laboratories and experienced experts, Alfa Chemistry offers EN 71 /ASTM /ISO /BS /JIS /GB standards, REACH, LHAMA, Toxicological Risk Assessment, etc. The typical test items for stationery and office supplies include chemical testing, microbiological testing and physical testing.

Toys & Children Products Testing

Toy manufacturers, retailers and importers are facing unprecedented challenges in the current global marketplace. Hazardous substances and poor design for toys and other children's products have aroused growing concerns around the world. Business related to the toy and children's product industry should ensure products safety in all aspects of the material, the function and the design to eliminate risks. At the same time, companies are also supposed to strictly enforce complete supply chain to ensure that the correct materials are sourced throughout the global supply chain. At present, toys and children's products are regulated more and more strictly around the world. Alfa Chemistry supports you by performing the necessary tests depending on the toy market and product characteristics.

Alfa Chemistry can provide a wide range of testing services for toy and children's products according to different international requirements including the U.S. CPSIA, ASTM F963, EU Toy Safety Directive, REACH, Health Canada's CPSA, GB Standards and ISO, as well as several state regulations including California's Prop 65, Washington State's Children's Safe Products Act and Maine's Safer Chemicals in Children's Products Act etc. The typical test items for toy and children products include:

• Mechanical and flammability testing (e.g. use/abuse testing, age-grading testing, durability and fatigue testing)

• Chemical testing

AZO dyes test, extractable heavy metals such as lead and cadmium, chemicals such as pentachlorophenol(PCP) and other chlorophenols, phthalates in plastics and PVC, formaldehyde, nickel content for skin contact metal components, carcinogenic dyes and allergic disperse dyes etc. Phthalates and presence of BPA in baby's bottle can also be tested.

• Electrical and EMC testing (for electric products/toys)

Home Decor and Decoration Testing

Nowadays, people decorate their homes with various kinds of more beautiful and innovative decorations than before. A lot of home decors change with seasons like Christmas and Halloween, while others, like vases, ceramic or crystal figures, picture frames, and clocks keep in place all year. Consumers expect their home decor and decoration to suit their lifestyles together with highest quality and safety. From seasonal or permanent to fashionable home decors and decorations, Alfa Chemistry can offer a wide range of reliable testing services including performance testing and material testing in order to minimize potential dangers and ensure the safety and quality. For example, there are as many as 94 million homes in America display Christmas trees and Christmas decorations during the holiday seasons. A comprehensive testing for these products plays a significant role, such as flammability tests, performance tests and toxic chemical substances tests etc. In US, there are many court cases about home decors and decorations on account of high content of hazardous substances that violate California's Prop 65 requirement.

As a professional third-party testing organization trusted and recommended by tens of thousands of customers, Alfa Chemistry can help your home decors and decorations in compliance with various international requirements such as US ASTM F2923, ASTM F2999, 16CFR 1303, CPSIA, AB1681, California's Prop 65, EU REACH SVHC, REACH Annex XVII, ISO/EN etc.

Footwear and Apparel

With softline, textile, footwear and accessory companies expanding into new global markets, they are facing an increasingly complex regulatory environment. Alfa Chemistry can assist retailers and manufacturers of textile, apparel and footwear products to ensure the safety, quality and performance. We perform textile testing on products ranging from fabric samples to finished products, including active wear, apparel and soft home furnishings.

The textile industries have established relevant requirements for textile and footwear chemical restrictions around the world. Essential quality examinations are implemented through each stage of the supply chain. Special attentions need to be paid to the selection of dyes and chemical auxiliaries such as AZO dye, formaldehyde, DMFu, heavy metal, flame retardants and so on. In addition, we also offer physical testings such as colorfastness, dimensional stability, appearance after cleaning, physical performance evaluation, fiber content analysis, flammability testing etc.

Safety Assessment

Consumer goods safety is a primary concern for all stakeholders. Alfa Chemistry can provide high quality toxicological risk assessments to highlight potential adverse health risks associated with a product formulation. Scientists in Alfa Chemistry will help you become a trusted and valued enterprise. We offer toxicological risk assessment (TRA) services for consumer products such as cosmetic, art materials ingredients etc., which are manufactured and sold in a wide range of industries. Our toxicologists are highly skilled professionals trained in toxicology, regulatory affairs, chemistry, biochemistry, environmental chemistry, biology and engineering. All of our toxicological risks assessments are approved by certified toxicologists.

We conduct TRA services in consideration of a series of information including related regulations, the toxicity of the individual chemical ingredients of the formulation used to manufacture the product, the exposure way and foreseeable misuse of the product and so on.

Our scientists are always ready to help whenever you need us. If you have any problems regarding consumer goods testing, please contact us without hesitation. We will deliver your projects on time with satisfaction.