Safety is our #1 Priority

Dec 21, 2021 | 5 Minute Read

Learn about the safety and quality measures that go into Huggies® products.

Safety is our #1 priority

Huggies® diapers and wipes go through a robust product safety process to ensure that they meet current regulatory requirements and are safe for use on babies’ skin of all ages including premature infants.

What is the process to ensure our products are safe to use?

Ensuring that our products are safe to use on the very delicate skin of infants is of utmost importance to us. We take pride in our safety process which begins with a thorough safety evaluation of product materials and ingredients that is controlled and managed from the supply chain level. The materials and ingredients safety assessments are an integral part of our process to ensure only those materials and ingredients which we are confident in their safety become part of our finished product. All Huggies® diapers and baby wipes are free from harsh ingredients and hypoallergenic, meaning less likely to trigger irritation or allergic reaction.

The process continues with a comprehensive safety assessment of the final product design, where we ensure the product is safe to use on infants and meets expectations for performance and supports skin health. The safety assessments of components and finished products are conducted by qualified product safety experts utilizing all available scientific (public and internal), toxicologic, and clinical data associated with the products to ensure that they are safe for their intended use and comply with all human safety-related regulations. Our baby wipes go through rigorous microbiological and safety testing, including laboratory and clinical studies, to ensure they are safe, effective, and gentle to clean infant skin at all stages. Our process continues into post-market surveillance, where we monitor product performance and analyze complaint trends to confirm that our products perform as expected.

Who is responsible for ensuring Huggies® products are safe to use on baby skin?

Within the US, manufacturers are responsible for ensuring consumer safety for the products that are in the market. To help accomplish this, Kimberly-Clark performs testing on our raw materials or finished products. Testing can span physical and performance testing, analytical testing, non-animal methods, or clinical testing with human subjects as appropriate to support the safety assessment process.

Do Huggies® products get tested on humans?

As our baby diapers and wipes are in constant direct contact with baby’s delicate skin, dermal irritation and allergic reactions are of primary importance. When skin tolerability needs to be confirmed, two relevant and common clinical studies called Human Repeated Insult Patch Test (HRIPT) and Cumulative Irritation Test (CIT) are used and are relied upon widely by the consumer products industry. These methods are particularly useful to confirm that the tested materials are not expected to cause allergy and/or irritation. All of Huggies® baby wipes are dermatologist tested. These studies were conducted under Good Clinical Practices (GCPs) and supervised by Board Certified dermatologists. All of Huggies® baby wipes are dermatologically tested. Since baby wipes are often also used to clean baby’s face and hands, we ensure that the wipes are safe to use around babies’ eyes.

Collectively, the materials and ingredients safety profiles, a thorough assessment by a suitably trained professional, and confirmatory safety testing assures our products are safe for use on infant skin.

Clara Jeong, Ph.D. Environmental Toxicology
Rob Foxenberg, Ph.D. Pharmacology and Toxicology 


Learn more about the Huggies® Diaper Rash Care Guide coming soon.