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Why do contaminated cosmetics turn pink? Source and mechanism.
It has never happened to me…as I get a little extreme with preservation….but in some of the forums I try and help out with beginners…I have seen the dreaded pink emulsion. I also realize…that not ALL pink reactions are preservation failures, but for the sake of today’s conversation…. What makes failures turn pink?
Is this a ….Bacteria? Mold? Fungi? Yeast? What is the scientific explanation of this pink color….a by product the organism produced….or the organism itself?
Love to learn….and all ears.
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4 Replies
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One pink/orange/red colouring bacterium is Serratia marcescens, it’s ubiquitous and an opportunistic pathogen.Another colour can be produced by Pseudomonas aeruginose (also an ubiquitous and opportunistic pathogen). Its pigments are greenish blue, yellowish and dirty red. Colour pigments change to red at lower pH which might result in pink hues in a product. -
Pharma said:One pink/orange/red colouring bacterium is Serratia marcescens, it’s ubiquitous and an opportunistic pathogen.Another colour can be produced by Pseudomonas aeruginose (also an ubiquitous and opportunistic pathogen). Its pigments are greenish blue, yellowish and dirty red. Colour pigments change to red at lower pH which might result in pink hues in a product.Thank you. So, you are saying the organism itself….provides the color…not some type of output/excrement.
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As Pharma noted, it can be both the microbe and its products. You may also find pink with less-common contaminants Chromobacter and contaminating fungi - esp. yeastlike fungi Rhodotorula.
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PhilGeis said:As Pharma noted, it can be both the microbe and its products. You may also find pink with less-common contaminants Chromobacter and contaminating fungi - esp. yeastlike fungi Rhodotorula.
Thank you.
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