Customers Find Black Mold Inside Eos Lip Balm – Truth!
Summary of eRumor:
Black mold has been found inside eos lip balm containers.
The Truth:
It’s true that eos lip balm users have reported finding black mold inside the product.
Reports of black mold found inside eos lip balm have sporadically appeared on social media for years. In February of 2015, one eos lip balm user’s account of finding black mold inside a container of half-used lip balm gained a lot of attention on Facebook:
“I really liked your lip balm, until I got to the middle of mine and found the bottom was full of mold. I thought there was an air bubble in the middle, but it turns out it was a blob of mold. I tried to scrape it off, but it went all the way down to the bottom of the container. Super disappointed and disgusted. That was a waste of my money, and I won’t be buying any of your products again.”
In the comments section under the post, many people uploaded photos of eos lip balm speckled with what they call black mold. And these reports aren’t necessarily new, either. Online reports of black mold found inside of eos lip balm date back to 2012.
For its part, eos responded on Facebook that it “very occasionally” gets reports of its lip balm users finding black mold because it’s a natural product that doesn’t contain any preservatives:
“We do very occasionally hear of this. Mold will grow on many surfaces, especially warm and moist places and on products with natural ingredients. The best way to prevent this is to try to not get the lip balm itself wet when applying it (apply to dry lips) and/or let any moisture that’s on the lip balm dry before you put the top back on. I hope this helps and thank you for using our products.
“While mold very rarely grows on our lip balm, it has been known to happen, especially with all-natural ingredients. Our policy is that we’re happy to replace any defective lip balm so long as the customer provides a picture. So if you want to send a picture of the moldy lip balm to [email protected], we’d be happy to send a coupon for a replacement. Thanks again for the feedback as it helps us improve.”
The USDA reports that most molds found on food and consumer products are not toxic, but it is possible for some varieties to cause allergic reactions or respiratory problems.