SGS Institut Fresenius has acquired the testing institute SIT Skin Investigation and Technology Hamburg GmbH. As a result of the merger, the prestigious laboratory service provider is expanding its testing services for cosmetics, personal care and hygiene products. The existing skills in the field of quality assurance for hair care products will now be supplemented with expertise in the field of dermatology and efficacy studies for skin care.

In future, customers will benefit from the combined know-how within the scope of quality assurance for skin and hair care products – from laboratory investigations to declaration checks and efficacy tests.

SIT Skin Investigation and Technology Hamburg GmbH was established in 1997 in Hamburg as a dermatological research institute. It employs 25 people and specialises in carrying out dermatological studies. For this purpose, it has a database of over 10,000 test subjects of all skin types and age groups. Products investigated include skin care creams, wash products, hygiene products and medical products that are used on the skin. Tests focus on tolerance and efficacy with respect to the end products as well as the individual ingredients and raw materials.

Research and studies for skin and hair
While SGS Institut Fresenius primarily specialises in user tests for hair care, as a result of the takeover it is expanding its focus to include products that are used on the skin. This is in addition to the laboratory capacities of SGS for chemical and microbiological investigations.

“With this combination we can now offer retailers and manufacturers of cosmetics a unique range of tests for care products,” says Dr. Sheida Hönlinger, Head of Department at SGS Institut Fresenius in Taunusstein. “We can now provide a more comprehensive range of application tests, performed by our competence centres in Hamburg, Frankfurt am Main and Austria.“

SIT Managing Director Dr. Joachim Degwert, his team of employees and co-founder Prof. Dr. Volker Steinkraus will remain with the company. “We are happy to contribute our dermatological expertise and business experience to the continued development of the testing institute,” says Degwert. “It is a good feeling to know that in future even more global companies will benefit from the dermatological research that we have carried out in the past 20 years here in Hamburg.“

The international laboratory network of the SGS Group includes sites for cosmetics testing in Germany, Austria, France, the USA and China – a particular advantage for cosmetics brands that must comply with global market requirements.