Microbiological Testing of Health, Beauty, Personal Care, Cosmetic Products

In today's marketplace, with regulations getting tighter and competition getting steeper, it is increasingly more important to provide safe, compliant products to customers.

Often, micro-organisms, particularly in cosmetics as in food, may cause spoilage or a chemical change that could harm your products and ultimately your customers. Although skin care products do not have to be completely sterile, their preservative must be able to take care of any harmful bacteria or contamination.
At our labs, we are committed to use of organic and natural products on the skin. Combining this with the balance of natural preservatives, we are committed to providing information and testing that will aid in this effort.

It is not uncommon for skin care products and cosmetics, items such as eye makeup, face creams and skin powders, to become contaminated, usually by touch of individuals who have unclean hands.

What are Methods for Testing Skin Care?
In order to safely test skin care products, we employ the following techniques and testing:


Microbial ID Testing - A common skin care test; Isolating organisms within a product, this test shows exactly what is present.

Antimicrobial Preservative Challenge Test - evaluates the effectiveness of an antimicrobial preservative. Known strains of microorganisms can be detected. This test, intervallic in nature, shows how a product may stop the growth of pathogens such as staph. This test takes a full 4 to 6 weeks.

Aerobic Plate Count Test or APC - a total microbial count of aerobic bacteria present. This does not contain information about pathogenic or non-pathogenic bacteria. Please allow at least 3 days to a week for this routine test. We recommend this test be ordered on each batch of skin care produced by your manufacturer.

Yeast and Mold Count Test - This test determines total yeast/fungi for the skin care product. Please allow 3 days to a week for this routine test. It is recommended along with the APC test.

Pathogen Screening Test - This specific test ensures that harmful bacteria are located, even low amounts. Please allow a full week to two weeks for detection of pathogenic bacteria.

Salmonella and Total Gram Negative Testing - including pneumoniae, staphylococcus, serratia, enterobacter and others.