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Is dipropylene glycol considered “bug food”?
I may be oversimplifying things, but I was under the impression that glycols generally boost preservatives. I came across this article on UL Prospector (https://www.ulprospector.com/knowledge/337/pcc-preservation-strategies-global-personal-care-formulations/) where it specified dipropylene glycol as a problematic ingredient because it’s considered a microbial nutrient. I was hoping to use a blend of propanediol and DPG to act as preservative boosters (other more effective glycols are much too expensive) in a green tea-based cleanser, but now I’m pretty concerned. Can anyone support/refute/explain this?
ulprospector.com
Preservation Strategies for Global Personal Care Formulations
Developing a robust preservation system is critical to maintaining the long term stability and safety of a formulation. This is especially difficult when develo
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5 Replies
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At very low quantity it may act as bug food.
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Would a 10% blend of glycols be sufficient to lower water activity?
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It will lower it a little bit.
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PLEASE .. use a proper preservative. Especially in your “green tea based” product. This sounds delicious to me, .. imagine to bugs 😀
Use chelating agent if possible, use some strong well-known preservative and support it with other ingredient, keep pH as low as possible.
Almost every ingredient can act as a bug food in low inputs.
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Of course 🙂 This is my planned preservation system:
0.2% tetrasodium EDTA
5% propanediol
1% Nipaguard EHP (phenoxyethanol, ethylhexylglycerin)
0.7 Gluconolactone
0.5% sodium benzoate
pH 4.5
Admittedly, this cleanser is pretty bug-friendly (green tea water, aloe vera juice, plant extract), so any suggestions/comments are welcome! Also, as much as I’d like to just use 0.5% Germall and call it a day, I’d like to avoid formaldehyde-releasers for the label appeal.
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