Preservative Efficacy Testing
Preservative Challenge (Preservative Effectiveness) Testing of cosmetics and personal care products is important to ensure the safety of the products prior to consumer use. According to the FDA, it is the responsibility of the finished product manufacturer to substantiate the safety of both ingredients and finished cosmetic products prior to marketing. The ability of a preservative system to protect the product from microbial growth and degradation must be established through microbial challenge testing of any formulation.
List of Commonly Used Preservatives
2-Bromo-2-Nitropropane-1,3-diol (Bronopol)
Benzalkonium Chloride
Benzyl Alcohol
Butylparaben
Chlorhexidine digluconate
Chlorphenesin
Citric Acid
Dehydroacetic Acid
Diazolidinyl Urea
DMDM Hydantoin
Essential Oils
Ethylparaben
Formaldehyde
Grapefruit Seed Extract
Imidazolidinyl Urea
Isobutylparaben
Lactic Acid
Methylisothiazolinone
Methylparaben
Neem Oil
Phenoxyethanol
Polyaminopropyl biguanide
Potassium Sorbate
Propylparaben
Quaternium-15
Salicylic Acid
Sodium Benzoate
Sodium Dehydroacetate
Sodium Metabisulfite
Sodium Sulfite
Sorbic Acid
Stearalkonium Chloride
Triclosan
Vitamin E (Tocopherols)
Zinc Pyrithione
Challenge testing cosmetics is possibly the single most important type of testing to protect a product. This testing allows manufacturers and formulators of cosmetics to have a clearer picture of how their products will withstand microbial attack which is inevitable during consumer use. Testing cosmetics and personal care products to ensure stability is necessary and cosmetic challenge tests are an essential part of any product’s stability testing regimen.
Qualimax LLC specializes in preservative challenge testing
We offer the following test methods:
- USP <51> Preservative Challenge Test.
- Customer Preservative Challenge Test and CTFA Plus Customer Validated Methods.
