Polyethoxylated Retinamide in the Korean Codex: 95.0% Assay, No Finished Forms
Published November 01, 2026
Polyethoxylated retinamide, listed in the Korean codex in Korean as 폴리에톡실레이티드레틴아마이드, has a raw-ingredient monograph in Annex 3, the wrinkle section. It requires an assay of 95.0% or more and describes the material as a yellow to yellow-brown, clear or slightly cloudy emulsion with a pH of 4.6 to 6.6.
Unlike retinol and retinyl palmitate in the same annex, it has no finished-form monographs at all. The notice is published by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS).
The polyethoxylated retinamide figures come from Annex 3 of MFDS Notice No. 2025-89 (the wrinkle section of the functional cosmetics codex, KFCC) and from Article 2 of the Cosmetics Act Enforcement Rule. Both were read in Korean and are quoted directly because Copyright Act Article 7 does not protect them. The page mentions no product, price or ranking.
Which functional claim type does PEG-retinamide belong to?
PEG-retinamide is a wrinkle-annex ingredient, which puts it under item 3 of Article 2 of the Enforcement Rule. In Korean the item reads:
피부에 탄력을 주어 피부의 주름을 완화 또는 개선하는 기능을 가진 화장품
In English, item 3 is a cosmetic that gives the skin firmness and so relieves or improves wrinkles. The PEG-retinamide monograph, with its 95.0% assay and pH of 4.6-6.6, defines a raw emulsion and not that effect.
The claim is to relieve or improve wrinkles by giving the skin firmness. The monograph sits under this type and states no result.
What does the PEG-retinamide monograph set?
Annex 3 of the codex includes a raw-ingredient monograph for polyethoxylated retinamide (PEG-retinamide). Its values, copied from the Korean text:
| Item in the monograph | What the codex states |
|---|---|
| Average molecular weight | 831 |
| Assay | 95.0% or more |
| Description | Yellow to yellow-brown, clear or slightly cloudy emulsion |
| Melting point | 6-10 C |
| pH | 4.6-6.6 |
| Heavy metals | 10 ppm or less |
| Arsenic | 2 ppm or less |
How should you read the terms in the PEG-retinamide monograph?
The PEG-retinamide monograph prints a label and a limit for every test. In the table below, the middle column is a general explanation of each test (not codex text) and the right column holds the figure printed for PEG-retinamide.
| Term in the monograph | General meaning of the test | Value in this monograph |
|---|---|---|
| Average molecular weight | The mean weight of the molecules in a mixture of similar chain lengths. | 831 |
| Assay | The test that measures how much of the named substance a sample contains, usually as a percentage. | 95.0% or more |
| Description | The appearance the raw material must have. | Yellow to yellow-brown, clear or slightly cloudy emulsion |
| Melting point | The temperature at which the solid melts, used to identify the substance and judge its purity. | 6-10 C |
| pH | The acidity of a solution prepared under the stated conditions. | 4.6-6.6 |
| Heavy metals | A limit test for metallic impurities, reported as a group in parts per million (ppm). | 10 ppm or less |
| Arsenic | A limit test for arsenic as an impurity, in ppm. | 2 ppm or less |
Here the assay (95.0% or more) is a floor, the pH (4.6-6.6) and melting point (6-10 C) are ranges, and heavy metals (10 ppm) and arsenic (2 ppm) are ceilings. All of them describe the raw emulsion; the codex lists no finished form for it.
How does the PEG-retinamide assay compare with other codex ingredients?
For context, the same MFDS codex lists other raw-ingredient monographs, which are sorted below by the bottom of their assay range. PEG-retinamide, at 95.0% or more, shares its place with two Annex 2 vitamin C derivatives:
| Ingredient | Annex | Assay as printed in the monograph |
|---|---|---|
| Salicylic acid | Annex 8 | 99.5% or more |
| Zinc oxide | Annex 4 | 99.5% or more, after ignition |
| Adenosine | Annex 3 | 99.0% or more |
| Biotin | Annex 9 | 98.5-101.0%, on the dried basis |
| Arbutin | Annex 2 | 98.0% or more |
| Ascorbyl glucoside | Annex 2 | 98.0% or more |
| Dexpanthenol | Annex 9 | 98.0-102.0%, on the anhydrous basis |
| L-menthol | Annex 9 | 98.0-101.0% |
| Niacinamide | Annex 2 | 98.0% or more, when dried |
| Ascorbyl tetraisopalmitate | Annex 2 | 95.0% or more |
| Ethyl ascorbyl ether | Annex 2 | 95.0% or more, when dried |
| PEG-retinamide (this page) | Annex 3 | 95.0% or more |
| Titanium dioxide | Annex 4 | 90.0% or more, when dried |
| Zinc pyrithione | Annex 9 | 90.0-101.0%, when dried |
In the MFDS codex, PEG-retinamide ranks 10 of 14 by the lower assay limit among the monographs read for this site, with 9 entries above it and 2 tied with it.
Why does the monograph give an average molecular weight?
Most monographs in the codex print an exact formula weight. This one prints an average molecular weight of 831, and the codex gives no reason. The name, polyethoxylated, suggests a chain of repeated units, which would make the figure an average rather than the weight of one fixed molecule; that reading is this page's, not the codex's.
The description is also unlike most entries: a liquid emulsion with a melting point of only 6 to 10 degrees Celsius, where arbutin or adenosine are crystalline powders. The codex prints these facts without comment, and this page reads them no further than that.
Compared with other Annex 3 entries: adenosine has a 99.0% assay and finished forms, retinol and retinyl palmitate are measured against their labelled amount and have four forms each. PEG-retinamide's 95.0% is a fixed floor, and the codex gives no finished form at all.
Is there a finished-product monograph for PEG-retinamide?
No. The codex records that Annex 3 has no finished-form monograph for polyethoxylated retinamide, in contrast with adenosine, retinol and retinyl palmitate in the same annex. A brand using it has no codex-defined test for the finished lotion or cream, as far as this extract shows.
PEG-retinamide label checklist
- Check that the product is marked as a functional cosmetic for wrinkles
- Look for the ingredient under its Korean name 폴리에톡실레이티드레틴아마이드 or as PEG-retinamide
- Do not read the 95.0% assay as the amount in a product
- Note that retinol and retinamide are separate monographs
- Ask for the notice number if a brand cites the codex
How to check a PEG-retinamide claim yourself
- Check the label for the wrinkle function marking
- Compare it with Article 2, item 3
- Open MFDS Notice 2025-89 and read Annex 3
- Find the polyethoxylated retinamide entry
Use levels of PEG-retinamide in any product. They sit in other MFDS rules not read for this page.
Every functional type and its codex ingredients are grouped in our K-beauty functional ingredient index.
Does PEG-retinamide appear in the combination annex?
No. Annex 5 of the same notice holds the monographs for products that make two functional claims at once, and it contains 21 combination monographs. Read on October 12, 2026, they are niacinamide with adenosine (4 forms: lotion, solution, cream, sheet mask), ascorbyl glucoside with adenosine (solution, 1), arbutin with retinol (cream, 1), arbutin with adenosine (4), alpha-bisabolol with adenosine (4), ethyl ascorbyl ether with adenosine (4) and oil-soluble liquorice extract with adenosine (3: lotion, solution, cream). Adenosine is in 20 of the 21. PEG-retinamide is in none of them, which matches the absence of finished-product monographs for it in Annex 3: in this notice it exists only as a raw ingredient. Every combination monograph sets the same content rule, each of the two ingredients at 90.0% or more of its labelled amount.
Sources and how to check
- 기능성화장품 기준 및 시험방법 (Standards and Test Methods for Functional Cosmetics, KFCC), MFDS Notice No. 2025-89, amended 16 December 2025: Annex 1 (general rules), Annex 3 (wrinkle monographs). Korean Law Information Center: https://www.law.go.kr/LSW/admRulInfoP.do?admRulSeq=2100000269816&chrClsCd=010201
- 화장품법 시행규칙 제2조 (Enforcement Rule of the Cosmetics Act, Article 2), quoted above: https://www.law.go.kr/법령/화장품법%20시행규칙/제2조
- Checked as of 13 October 2026, against the annex files of the notice. Licence: unprotected works under Copyright Act Article 7.
Questions readers ask about Polyethoxylated Retinamide in the Korean Codex
Does polyethoxylated retinamide have a monograph in the Korean codex?
Yes. Annex 3 of the MFDS functional cosmetics codex (Notice No. 2025-89) has one, under the wrinkle type.
What assay does it require?
95.0% or more.
What is its average molecular weight?
The monograph states 831.
Does it have finished-form monographs?
No. The extract read for this page records none for it in Annex 3.
Is it the same as retinol?
No. Retinol has its own monograph in the same annex.