Dehydroacetic acid can be found in skin care products like moisturisers, facial masks, aqueous creams, baby wipes and baby lotions. It is also used in some foods like squash and strawberries to prevent the growth of certain fungi that spoil these foods specifically.

Dehydroacetic acid is made using a very large number of different manufacturing methods. It can be prepared by the action of acetic anhydride on acetonedicarboxylic acid, as a by-product in the pyrolysis of acetone to give ketene, by treatment of ketene dimer with pyridine or sodium phenoxide, and by removal of ethanol from acetoacetic ester.

Dehydroacetic acid is approved for use by organic cosmetic watchdogs Cosmos and EcoCert.

Dehydroacetic acid is safe to use in leave-one cosmetics like lotions and creams at concentrations up to 0.6%.