Benzoyl Peroxide Benzene Tracker

How to check your product in under a minute

1. Find the lot number and expiration date. Look for "LOT" and "EXP" stamped on the crimped end of a tube, the bottom of a bottle or pump, or the carton. They're often printed in small, low-contrast type.
2. Type the lot number into the search box above. Spaces and dashes don't matter, so 2309328 finds lot 23 09328.
3. Check that the product matches. A lot match only counts if the brand and product name on your package match the entry too.
4. No match? Then no recall we know of covers your lot. Throw the product out if it's past its expiration date, and follow the storage tips below.

Our step-by-step guide, how to find the lot number on benzoyl peroxide, walks through reading lot codes, asking for a refund and what to do next.

What to do if your product was recalled

The 2025 U.S. recalls were retail-level recalls. The FDA told stores to take the named lots off shelves and online listings. It did not tell people to take any particular action with products they already owned, apart from throwing away expired ones. The FDA also said that even with daily use for decades, the risk of developing cancer from the benzene found in these products is very low.

That said, most people prefer not to keep using a recalled lot. Reasonable steps:

• Stop using that tube or bottle. Switching to another product with the same active ingredient and strength usually lets you continue your routine without a break.
• Ask about a refund or replacement. Contact the retailer or the manufacturer's customer service, and have the lot number and a photo of the label ready. News reports said Proactiv's maker offered refunds or replacements for its recalled lots.
• Dispose of it sensibly. The FDA's general advice for medicines without a take-back option is to mix them with something unappealing, such as used coffee grounds, seal the mixture in a bag and put it in household trash. See the FDA's medicine disposal guidance.
• In Canada, Health Canada's advice for the recalled Proactiv lots is to check whether your product is affected, stop using it, and talk to a health care professional if you have concerns.
• Report a reaction. If you had a side effect from any acne product, you can report it to the FDA through MedWatch.

How to store benzoyl peroxide to limit benzene

Benzoyl peroxide is chemically unstable, and heat speeds up its breakdown into benzene. In a 2024 study in Environmental Health Perspectives, benzene rose in products kept at body temperature (37°C/98.6°F) for several weeks, and much more at 50°C (122°F) and 70°C (158°F). A 2025 study in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology found benzene could form at room temperature too, and that cold storage greatly reduced it. The American Academy of Dermatology suggests:

• Store products as the label directs, generally at room temperature or cooler. A refrigerator is fine.
• Replace benzoyl peroxide products about every 10 to 12 weeks.
• Throw out products that have been exposed to higher temperatures (for example, above 78°F).

Practical ways to do that:

• Don't leave acne products in a car, a gym bag in the sun, or on a sunny windowsill.
• Keep a leave-on product out of a hot, steamy shower caddy if you can.
• Buy the size you'll finish in a couple of months rather than a jumbo tube that sits open for a year.
• Check the expiration date when you buy, and again before each new tube goes into use.

How we build and check this list

What's included

• Recalled: products and lot numbers named in the FDA's March 11, 2025 announcement, and lots named in a Health Canada recall notice.
• Named in independent testing: products named, with reported benzene levels where we could confirm them, in coverage of Valisure's March 2024 citizen petition to the FDA. These are not FDA findings and not recalls.
• FDA tested, low or not detected: reserved for products the FDA names as tested with low or undetectable benzene. As of our last check, the FDA had published the names of the recalled products only, not product-by-product results for the other products it tested. That is why this tracker has no 'tested below threshold' rows yet. If the FDA publishes full results, we will add them.

How each entry is sourced

Every row lists its primary source (the FDA, Health Canada or the petition), the date the finding was announced, the other reports we checked it against, and the date we last checked it. Recall rows reproduce the FDA's March 11, 2025 recall table as reported by several independent outlets and retailer notices, plus a Health Canada recall notice. Independent-testing rows come from news coverage of Valisure's March 2024 citizen petition and list only products that coverage tied to a specific benzene figure; brands named without a specific product and figure are not listed. Each row lists its primary source and the secondary reports we checked it against. Rows marked 'Checked against secondary reports' should be re-checked against the primary page at the next audit. We don't do any laboratory testing ourselves, and we don't guess at missing details. Where an expiration date or publication date couldn't be confirmed, the cell says so.

What the benzene numbers mean

FDA guidance, consistent with ICH Q3C, says benzene should be avoided in drug manufacturing and, where its use is unavoidable, kept below 2 parts per million (ppm) in drug products. Independent lab figures in this table were mostly measured after the products were heated on purpose, so they show what can form under heat stress, not what was in a typical tube on a store shelf.

How often we update it

We check for new FDA, Health Canada and manufacturer announcements at least once a quarter and whenever a new recall is reported. The data was last checked on September 23, 2026. If you spot an error or a missing recall, please tell us through our corrections page; we log every correction publicly. Our editorial policy explains how we choose and check sources.

Why the FDA and Valisure results look so different

Valisure, an independent lab, told the FDA in March 2024 that it had found high benzene levels in many benzoyl peroxide products, with the highest figures after heating samples. The FDA then ran its own tests on 95 products, including the products third-party labs had flagged that it was able to buy. It found undetectable or extremely low benzene in more than 90% of them. The two sets of results measure different things. One shows what heat and time can do, and the other shows what was in products bought off the shelf at one point in time. A 2025 analysis in JAMA Dermatology of 111 products found that formulation mattered. Products with the antioxidant butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) tended to have less benzene, and leave-on products had less than washes. The benzoyl peroxide percentage itself was not significantly linked to benzene levels.

What the health research says so far

Benzene is a known human carcinogen, so any exposure is worth minimizing. The studies so far on people who actually use benzoyl peroxide are reassuring. An analysis of U.S. national survey data (NHANES) found no link between benzoyl peroxide use and higher blood benzene levels. A large U.S. health-records study found no increase in cancers among people treated with benzoyl peroxide for acne. These are observational studies, so they can't rule out a very small risk, but they fit with the FDA's view that the risk is very low.

Benzoyl peroxide remains one of the best-supported acne treatments. The American Academy of Dermatology's 2024 guidelines strongly recommend it. If you'd like to avoid it anyway, read about choosing the right benzoyl peroxide strength, or use our acne treatment path quiz to see other options. To check a routine for ingredient clashes, try the ingredient conflict checker.