Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Microbial contamination and preservative capacity of some brands of cosmetic creams

Peter G Hugbo, Anthony O Onyekweli, Ijoma . Igwe

Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria;

For correspondence:- Ijoma Igwe Email:

Published: 17 December 2003

Citation: Hugbo PG, Onyekweli AO, Igwe I.. Microbial contamination and preservative capacity of some brands of cosmetic creams. Trop J Pharm Res 2003; 2(2):229-234 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v2i2.6

© 2003 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: Cosmetic and topical products need not be sterile but may contain low levels of microbial load during use. This study was conducted to determine and compare the level and type of microbial contaminants in commercial cosmetic products sold in the market and a laboratory prepared aqueous cream and their preservative capacities while in use.
Methods: Ten brands of commercially available cosmetic creams and lotions were randomly purchased from the open markets in Benin City. Aqueous Cream was also prepared. Their bacterial and fungal loads as well as types were evaluated. Preservative capacity was evaluated by challenging the creams and lotions with washed and characterized isolates of Staph. aureus and viable counting was performed by the surface viable method. The prepared aqueous cream was similarly challenged with the test organism.
Results: All the products were contaminated to varying degrees. Staphylococci and other gram-positive cocci were the most preponderant; gram-negative isolates were hardly found. Fungal contaminants consisted largely of Asp. fumigatus, Penicillium and Microsporium species. Challenge test (re-infection) with Staph. aureus revealed the commercial products as having low capacity for suppressing bacterial proliferation such as may be encountered during in – use contamination.
Conclusion: Commercial cosmetic creams and lotions evaluated did not generally meet the standards for microbial limits as specified in official monographs. Such products can adversely affect health status of consumers as well as the stability profiles of the products.

Keywords: Commercial products; cosmetic creams; cosmetic lotions; microbial contamination.