Sudan Red scandal stains China’s beauty market ahead of Singles’ Day

What happened In the midst of China’s Singles’ Day (Double 11) shopping bonanza, a new safety scandal has rocked the country’s $90 billion beauty market. On October 19, consumer testing channel Dad Lab (@老爸测试) released a viral video revealing traces of the banned industrial dye Sudan Red VI in several skincare and makeup products. The dye, classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a Group 3 carcinogen, has been explicitly banned by China’s National Medical Products Administration since 2021. Beauty raw material scandal spreads across social media The findings quickly spread across social media, as consumers speculated which products from domestic and international labels were involved. Further Dad Lab investigation traced the contamination to a raw material blend containing Eclipta Prostrata extract, Melia Azarirachta leaf extract, and Moringa Oleifera seed oil. Testing found Sudan Red concentrations as high as 1,170ppm, far exceeding levels that could result from cross-contamination, suggesting deliberate addition. According to screenshots released by Dad’s Lab, a Singapore-based company, Campo Research (S) Pte. Ltd, is believed to be the supplier involved in the incident. But it has yet to respond to inquiries from Chinese media or consumers. While its China distributor declined to comment. The customer service replied: “We are still in discussions, and nothing has been finalized yet, so we are not making any public statements.” According to reports from industry media, as many as 800 products across 400 brands could be implicated, spanning skincare, color cosmetics, and cleansing products. The Jing Take: Consumer panic turns to refund requests On Weibo, the controversy has ignited heated discussion under trending hashtags “MultipleBrandsRespondToSudanRedFindings” (4.75 million views) and “HowManyCosmeticsStillContainSudanRed” (5.88 million views). One Weibo user, @Meihua1005promise, commented, “This is terrifying.” Many customers are calling related safety and health departments to request returns and refunds of their purchased skincare products. According to some health experts, the detected levels may pose limited acute risk via skin absorption. The revelation has sparked consumer panic and refund requests, many of which have been rejected by brands citing compliance with current safety standards, which further angered consumers. While several brands, including Florasis, have quietly withdrawn their products suspected of containing Sudan Red from major e-commerce platforms. The Sudan Red episode highlights a long-standing structural weakness in the beauty sector: a fragile, opaque supply chain where brands often rely on suppliers’ self-reported quality certificates instead of independent testing. Even global players are not immune to reputational fallout when raw material oversight breaks down. Singles’ Day under scrutiny The timing couldn’t be worse. Singles’ Day is China’s biggest retail event, when beauty sales surge and consumers stock up for months ahead. Yet this year, the focus has shifted from price wars to trust and transparency. Consumers are now scrutinizing ingredient lists, prioritizing safety over marketing hype. For regulators and brands alike, the scandal serves as a stark wake-up call: compliance cannot stop at the paperwork or factory gate. China’s beauty industry is entering an era where traceability, third-party testing, and supply chain transparency will matter as much as innovation and branding. Without rebuilding consumer trust through genuine accountability, even the most established names risk seeing their reputations permanently marked, long after the color fades. The Jing Take reports on a piece of the leading news and presents our editorial team’s analysis of the key implications for the luxury industry. In the recurring column, we analyze everything from product drops and mergers to heated debate sprouting on Chinese social media.

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Sudan Red scandal stains China’s beauty market