One of the skin experts Grazia interviewed for its 2026 K-beauty trend piece called 2025 the year of PDRN and expects 2026 to belong to EGF, epidermal growth factor, which is getting attention in Korea as a skin-repair ingredient.
On an ingredient list, EGF goes by its INCI name: rh-Oligopeptide-1, sh-Oligopeptide-1, or a longer name built on one of those. In the EU ingredient database, the two letters in front of the name lead to different records. China does not allow the substance under any of these names, through a rule that its ban list does not show.
rh, sh, and no prefix
rh-Oligopeptide-1 and sh-Oligopeptide-1 both describe recombinant human EGF, a protein of 53 amino acids made by microorganisms that carry the human EGF gene. The EU ingredient database, CosIng, separates them by where that gene came from. For rh-Oligopeptide-1, the starting gene was isolated directly from a human cell. For sh-Oligopeptide-1, the starting gene was synthesized to be identical to the human one.
Then there is Oligopeptide-1 with no prefix. It looks like the parent of the other two, and some ingredient guides online describe it as EGF. It is a different substance, the same kind of mix-up we found with ingredients that share a CAS number. CosIng defines it as an oligomer of glycine with histidine and lysine, and China's drug regulator describes it as a synthetic peptide made of those three amino acids, not the same substance as EGF.
The EU record looks at where the gene came from
Annex II of the EU Cosmetics Regulation, the list of substances prohibited in cosmetic products, includes entry 416: cells, tissues or products of human origin. In CosIng, rh-Oligopeptide-1 is linked to that entry. sh-Oligopeptide-1 has no annex entry linked to it, and neither do the two plant-produced versions we checked, Centella Asiatica sh-Oligopeptide-1 and Nicotiana Benthamiana Hexapeptide-40 sh-Oligopeptide-1.
The protein in the bottle can be identical either way. What differs is the production route, and the INCI name is how that route gets declared. A missing annex link for sh-Oligopeptide-1 is not an approval. It means no annex entry names it, and the product still has to meet the regulation's general safety requirement.
Korea writes both names into one rule
Korea has limited EGF in cosmetics to 0.001% since 2006. The current entry from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) reads rh- (or sh-) Oligopeptide-1 (epidermal growth factor), with a maximum of 0.001%. In Korea the prefix makes no difference: both names fall under the same limit.
MFDS also publishes, ingredient by ingredient, which export markets prohibit or restrict it. In that data, rh-Oligopeptide-1 is linked to the human-origin prohibition in six markets: the EU, ASEAN, China, Taiwan, Brazil and Argentina. With Korea's limit, that makes seven markets with an entry. sh-Oligopeptide-1 has the Korean limit and nothing else. The United States, Japan and Canada have no entry for either name.
China's EGF ban is not on its ban list
The MFDS data has no China entry that names EGF. For rh-Oligopeptide-1 it links China's general human-origin prohibition, as it does for the EU; for sh-Oligopeptide-1 it links nothing. The rule that covers both names works through a different mechanism. Under China's cosmetics regulation, an ingredient that is not in the Inventory of Existing Cosmetic Ingredients in China (IECIC) is a new cosmetic ingredient and has to go through registration or filing with the regulator.
In a January 2019 Q&A, the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) stated that human oligopeptide-1 was not in the inventory, that EGF may not be used as a cosmetic ingredient on efficacy and safety grounds, and that any product which adds it or claims to contain it is an illegal product. Oligopeptide-1, the three-amino-acid peptide, was in the inventory.
That has not changed. The inventory as revised in 2025 still lists Oligopeptide-1 as entry 2595, and it has no entry for human oligopeptide-1, sh-Oligopeptide-1 or rh-Oligopeptide-1, either on their own or inside a longer name.
EGF still makes news in China. In late 2025, state broadcaster CCTV reported that market testing had found EGF in two face masks from a domestic brand. The brand disputed the finding, citing test reports that found none, and experts quoted in the coverage pointed out that there is no standardized method for detecting EGF in cosmetics. By the end of December, both masks were no longer listed in the brand's official online store.
A database built only from prohibition and restriction lists therefore shows no China entry for sh-Oligopeptide-1, even though the ingredient cannot be used there.
| INCI name | What it is | Korea (MFDS) | EU (CosIng) | China (NMPA, IECIC) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| rh-Oligopeptide-1 | Human EGF, gene isolated from a human cell | Max 0.001% | Annex II/416, human origin | Not allowed; not in IECIC |
| sh-Oligopeptide-1 | Human EGF, synthesized gene | Max 0.001% | No annex entry | Not allowed; not in IECIC |
| Centella Asiatica sh-Oligopeptide-1 | Human EGF produced by Centella asiatica | No entry linked | No annex entry | Not in IECIC |
| Oligopeptide-1 | Glycine, histidine and lysine peptide; not EGF | No entry | No annex entry | In IECIC, entry 2595 |
EGF with a plant's name
The same protein can also be made by a plant that has been given a copy of the human gene, and the INCI name then starts with the plant's name. CosIng describes Centella Asiatica sh-Oligopeptide-1 as a recombinant human peptide produced by Centella asiatica, from a starting gene identical to the human EGF gene. On an ingredient list it reads like one more centella ingredient, the cica that K-beauty is known for.
Beyond rh- and sh-Oligopeptide-1, MFDS's cosmetic ingredient list has ten more names whose definitions describe human EGF: versions named after barley, rice, potato, Damask rose, green tea, centella, chlorella and cow, a fusion peptide with Nicotiana benthamiana in its name, and sh-Oligopeptide-1 SP. None of the ten is linked to Korea's 0.001% EGF entry in the regulatory data, and none has an entry for any market there. Whether the Korean limit applies to them is a question for MFDS; the data does not answer it. The same list also has six peptides based on the EGF of animals: cat, chicken, dog, horse and mouse, plus a tiger fusion peptide. None of them has a regulatory entry either.
Checking an EGF ingredient before export
Start from the raw material specification, not the marketing name. The answer depends on the exact INCI name on that specification, on whether the gene was isolated from human cells or synthesized, and on which organism produced the protein. With those in hand, check the Korean restriction entry, the CosIng record for that exact INCI name, and China's inventory. For China, finding no prohibition entry is not enough. The ingredient has to be in the inventory, or registered or filed as a new ingredient.
A formula within Korea's 0.001% limit can still be illegal in China under either name, and in the EU under the rh name. Searching for "EGF" or for "Oligopeptide-1" alone will find the wrong ingredient or miss the right one.
Data: Korean restriction entries and export-market links from MFDS public data (31,191 entries), checked on October 10, 2026. Ingredient definitions from MFDS cosmetic ingredient data and EU CosIng. China from the NMPA Q&A of January 10, 2019 and the IECIC 2021 edition with its 2025 revision. An absent entry in this data means the data has no entry, not that an ingredient is safe or approved.
The K-Beauty Cosmetic Ingredients API returns the Korean limit and the market-by-market entries described above, looked up by ingredient code.
Sources
Grazia, Korean skin experts on 2026 K-beauty trends
CosIng: rh-Oligopeptide-1, sh-Oligopeptide-1, Centella Asiatica sh-Oligopeptide-1, Nicotiana Benthamiana Hexapeptide-40 sh-Oligopeptide-1, Oligopeptide-1
Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009, Annex II
Medical Times (Korea), April 12, 2006, on the 0.001% limit for EGF
NMPA, Cosmetics Supervision FAQ (I), January 10, 2019
NMPA Notice 2021 No. 62, IECIC 2021 edition, NMPA Notice 2025 No. 61
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