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Need help with preservatives
Can anyone help me with preservatives for hand wash and liquid dishwash? I am using DMDM Hydantoin. But I am looking for safe and non toxic preservative .
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36 Replies
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Sodium benzoate 0.3% and pH <5 and use a chelator, EG: EDTA.
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Parabens used below the EU limits
<0.4% methylparaben
<0.14% propylparaben
Almost guaranteed to work, even if they leave the bottle open and some rotten food particles get into it. -
Gunther said:Parabens used below the EU limits
<0.4% methylparaben
<0.14% propylparaben
Almost guaranteed to work, even if they leave the bottle open and some rotten food particles get into it.Should I use both?
0.3% methylparaben and 0.12% propylparaben.
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Belassi said:Sodium benzoate 0.3% and pH <5 and use a chelator, EG: EDTA.
pH of my product is between 5.5 to 6.5. and yes I am using EDTA
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You can use Phenoxyethnaol and Ethylhexylglycerin
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vjay said:You can use Phenoxyethnaol and Ethylhexylglycerin
what %?
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DMDM is a safe preservative
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@vjay, phenoxyethanol doesn’t protect from the mold. You can’t use it as the only preservative, you should pair with other preservatives.
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ngarayeva001 said:@vjay, phenoxyethanol doesn’t protect from the mold. You can’t use it as the only preservative, you should pair with other preservatives.@vay posted: “You can use Phenoxyethanol and Ethylhexylglycerin” … that is a combination of preservatives that should work perfectly fine in this product class
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Perry said:DMDM is a safe preservative
I m using DMDM up to 0.5% And no other preservatives.. Is it safe?
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Well, that depends on what else is in your formula. But DMDM is safe for use up to 1%.
Of course, you have to do a preservative efficacy test to determine whether your formula is safe when using only DMDM Hydantoin.
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Euxyl 9010 is used at 1%.10% out of 1% is Ethylhexylglycerin. Can 0.1% of Ethylhexylglycerin provide reasonable protection from the mold? In this case, what is the reason to create a version with Benzyl Alcohol that is known to be active against mold?
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Could be for a variety of reasons, the primary one being that some clients may not want Benzyl Alcohol in their formulations since it is a known irritant. Others may not have a problem with that. They are in the business of developing preservatives, so logical that they would come up with as many blend combinations as possible to broaden their product portfolio.
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I managed to grow (unintentionally of course) an impressive colony of dark grey mold on the product preserved by 1% euxyl 9010.
I admit it contained 10% of kaolin that is no easy to preserve, but Germaben II did well with the same product (4 months, no visible mold). So, I would not rely on euxyl 9010 for every product. -
No one said that Euxyl 9010 was an appropriate preservative for every product. Proper Preservation is much more than just adding one ingredient to a product … it involves hurdle technology apporaches using a variety of ingredients such as glycols to reduce water activity, chelants, preservative potentiators and the preservative itself.
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Well, it makes no sense to add chelator to the product I mentioned above. It has 10% of clay. It will overwhealm EDTA. I can’t add glycols either because it’s a gommage. I need it to peel off. Glycols work as humectants and the product will never become dry enough to peel it off (I tried propylene, butylene and not glycol but glycerin). All I am saing Euxyl 9010 can’t be considered broad spectrum compaing with preservatives like Germaben II and Phenonip. It is particularly weak against the mold.
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First of all, this discussion has nothing to do with your particular product.
Euxyl 9010 is indeed a broad spectrum preservervative. EHG functions by weaking the cell membrane wall, so it will affect bacteria, yeast and mold. Again, proper preservation is not simply a matter of adding one ingredient to a product.
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MarkBroussard said:Again, proper preservation is not simply a matter of adding one ingredient to a product.
Totally agreed.
@ngarayeva001
We as homecrafters usually have to rely on ‘stronger/sturdy’ preservatives like Germaben II, (Liquid) Germall Plus etc because we usually don’t do tests. And especially when stuff like clay is included. Plus we can never achieve the same level like the industry cGMP-wise (air treatment etc).
And even blends like Germaben can lose its ‘strength’. Especially the parabens in it are said to interact with several substances.
For as far as I know (Liquid) Germall Plus has the least interactions and is very versatile, maybe that’s why Susan from Swift uses it most of the time.
(Edit: I also use the hurdle approach when using Germaben and Germall btw)But not all people here asking (preservative) questions are homecrafters.
Euxyl PE9010 indeed is broad spectrum, it can be sufficient for molds also, as Mark explains. It totally depends on your exact formula if it is the right choice in a certain %. Only by doing microbial tests like challenge testing one can be sure. Any change to a formula, even minute ones, would justify retesting.
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If you don’t do either a microbial plate test, strip test or Preservative Challenge Test, you have absolutely no idea whether or not your preservation approach is working or not. While the growth of mold may be obvious to the eye, other forms of microbial contamination are not at all obvious to the eye or smell.
Even if you are a homecrafter, you should at least run strip tests on your batches to see if you have any contamination. They are readily available from a couple of the homecrafter ingredient sites.
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MarkBroussard said:If you don’t do either a microbial plate test, strip test or Preservative Challenge Test, you have absolutely no idea whether or not your preservation approach is working or not. While the growth of mold may be obvious to the eye, other forms of microbial contamination are not at all obvious to the eye or smell.
Even if you are a homecrafter, you should at least run strip tests on your batches to see if you have any contamination. They are readily available from a couple of the homecrafter ingredient sites.
Absolutely true. I can get those from work, so it’s easy for me (the plates expire fast, so this is better (and cheaper) than ordering abroad).
I also want to have challenge tests done in the future, with several preservative blends. -
@MarkBroussard
Point with the plates/strip tests is that as a homecrafter you can’t do these in a cleanroom under the right circumstances, so you’ll never know 100% sure, the contamination might also have come from the air.
I can get the plates extremely cheap and it’s nice as extra test, but the best way of course is to let these tests be done by a lab, where everything is completely in order cGMP-wise. -
These strip tests do not need to be done in a clean room. They are designed to be placed in an incubator. The likelihood that you would ever get any contamination from the air is negligible. And, if your preservative is working properly, it won’t matter where the contamination comes from … the preservative will do its job.
Unless your packaging is airless containers, once a container is opened in a customer’s home, it’s going to be exposed to the air in the house. The whole idea is to test products simulating real-world conditions, not laboratory conditions per se.
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This is all you need … a small incubator & dipslides … all available from Schulke:
http://www.mikrocount.com/mikrocount-en/Cultura-Brutschrank.php
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I read that microbial tests from suppliers like lotioncrafter are far from being accurate.
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