Hi,
I was wondering how much of the product testing process could be reasonably handled on site for a home-based business? Could anyone also share which equipment they would recommend purchasing to manage that? Thank you, and any input is much appreciated.
Comments
1 At least rent a small office or warehouse. Unless you only plan to service customers by Email/mail, they won't trust a business located in a garage.
2 You'd need at least a makeshift cleanroom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleanroom
and/or glovebox
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glovebox
to work with bacteria.
You'd need a way to dispose of bacteria before disposal, by either degrading them with chemicals
On the cheap you can probably use concentrated Sodium hydroxide (be careful) to kill bacteria, then neutralizing it with acid.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterilization_(microbiology)#Potential_for_chemical_sterilization_of_prions
or flaming/incineration
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterilization_(microbiology)#Flaming
You just can't flush live bacteria down the drain.
3 As anything bacterial sounds scary, neighbors might complain to the regulators.
Another reason to rent a small office or warehouse IMO.
4 For some reports, you may need a licensed microbiologist to sign them.
But you can offer yours as 'preliminary testing', 'as-is', 'not guarenteed', or something like that.
5 You need to make sure you get quality bacteria, and they can reproduce. Cultivation on agar plates, and watching under microscope is required in every bacteria batch.
Other than that you can give it a try, if you have the time. It doesn't seem to require investing a huge amount of money ... unless your local regulations are really stringent.
Cofounder & Chief Formulator
Indochine Natural
Especially useful when samples are left overnight, so nobody's able to quickly reset it.
Even old-school dial-type models are preferable to modern electronic ones IMO.
Either that, or an UPS + battery cabinet.
As Mark noted above, send your products out to a professional laboratory for Preservative Challenge Testing (reduces your liability) and when you're making production batches, use microbial test strips as an internal check, coupled with plate count tests performed by a third party lab.
Product Stability Testing: Simply buy an inexpensive oven for elevated temperature and use your home freezer for freeze/thaw testing.
See website for details www.desertinbloomcosmeticslab.com