Microbial Contamination in some Moisturizing Creams in Iran Market

Background and There is a high risk of pathogen contamination in poor quality cosmetic products that are illegally smuggled into our country. Such contaminations can be easily passed to consumers and endanger their health. In this study the microbial contamination were investigated in some nonstandard moisturizing creams found in poor quality markets and standard creams from drug stores. The study included nine samples of moisturizing creams obtained from poor quality markets and three samples placed on drug stores and standard markets. The samples were evaluated for microbial content (bacterial total count, fungal count, and presence of Pseudomon asaeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Entrobacter) using pour plate and multiple tube techniques. Aerobic bacteria counts in all samples were more than cfu.g-1 1000. Fungal contamination was seen in 17% in non-standard samples and in 67% in standard creams which were again more than cfu.g-1 1000. All samples were found contaminated by entrobacters. Staphylococcus aureus was observed in three samples of nonstandard and two samples of drug stores. We detected P. aeoroginosa in three samples of nonstandard and one sample of standard moisturizing creams. High level of contamination in moisturizing creams would influence the health of consumers. It is believed that low grade raw materials and insufficient manufacturing surveillance in production process are amongst the main reasons for microbial contamination in cosmetic products. Hence, more supervision is needed to control such problems.