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Not good enough preservation system? Or bad production?
Hello there,
We are working on an aqua hair styling wax, I noticed “some” of our finished products (around 10%) have a white dots (most likely molds) on the surface after 15-20 days (one spore or two, which get bigger with time).. but most of them don’t have white spots even after 45 days, which makes me confused about why some have white dot (if my preservatives were not good enough, shouldn’t all my jars have white dots?!)
The formula:
water
ceteareth 25 27%
propylene glycol 1%
phenoxyethanol, caprylyl glycol 0.5%
phenoxyethanol, Benzoic Acid 0.5%
fragrance 1%
peg-40 hydrogenated castor oil 1%
lactic acid, q.s. to get pH=5
colorSo the preservatives as active are:
phenoxyethanol 0.55%
caprylyl glycol 0.25%
Benzoic Acid 0.05%All preservatives r mixed with propylene glycol and then added lastly to the tank at 75°c, mixed for 15 minutes and filled at 75-80°c. It takes around 2.5 hours to be filled (I think it is ok for my preservatives to handle that much time on high temperature, right?). The final pH of the product is 5.
I tested the pH of “infected” jars and didn’t see any raise of the pH value.
I’m considering adding EDTA 0.2% to make the preservatives more affective.
so what your opinions about those white dots? is benzoic acid 0,05% enough at pH=5? should I increase the benzoic acid percent or decrease pH? or should I add Na benzoate (I had in stock a mixture of potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate) or any other preservatives recommenced for my formula?side note: we don’t have a cooling tunnel so we are cooling the jar before capping them by putting them on trays and there are small gaps between the trays (6 cm), letting them to cool below 40°c and then start capping them
I have hunches that, the condensation on the bottom of trays dropping down on some jars and cause that white dots but I need to know your opinions about the preservation system. We will send some samples to PET test this week but would love to hear from u and learn from your expertises.
Thanks in advance.
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15 Replies
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You need all of them. Add EDTA, reduce pH to at least 4.7 and increase benzoate to 0.5%.
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Thank you for your helpful reply, i will follow your advice. currently I’m using benzoic acid and have sodium benzoate in stock, should i increase benzoic acid percent to 0.5% or add sodium benzoate at 0.5%?
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I guess he can add paraben easier without need decreasing PH.
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Thank you, fekher.. i appreciate your help
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The problem there is consumers don’t want parabens anymore…..especially underarm deodorant products..
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Benzoic acid? or Na benzoate? should be 5000 ppm should be enough.
Would you consider this a water or oil in water
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Thank you for your insight, we are using benzoic acid at 0.05% at pH 5. 5000ppm should be enough if it was benzoic acid or Na benzoate?
It’s water-based, there’s no emulsion
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Benzoic acid were added by making a pre-mix of propylene glycol and all preservatives and adding the pre-mix to the tank at 75°C
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500 or 5000 ppm? 0.05% is 500 ppm.
Think Na benzoate would be preferable.
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Yes, at the moment we use 500ppm. I see, we will consider switching to Na benzoate.. we have a mixture of Na benzoate and potassium sorbate. I checked and find out at ulprospector, “at a temperature above 60°C, potassium sorbate will begin to sublime”. I can’t incorporate the mixture at less than 70°C (filling temperature).. if we couldn’t find a supplier that offer Na benzoate alone, could i keep using benzoic acid? At what ppm and pH?
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500 is not enough. Suggest 2000-3000 ppm
Sorbic is not so stable and I’ve not seen the “synergy” many claim.
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Thank you a lot for ur help. I appreciate your efforts
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Hi, I would say your product is more likely like a pomade which is clear, am i correct? I have encountered contamination issue with pomade before. High dosage of ceteareth 25 in the formulation is hard to preserve due to its high ethoxylation system. I have resolved my contamination issue with changed to preservative Benzyl Alcohol + Ethylhexylglycerin (1%) and Caprylyl Glycol (0.5% as a preservative booster). I do not have limitation in pH, unlike sodium benzoate which need to be around pH 5.
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might be a bit weak v. Gram -‘s
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