FINAL-FINAL.jpgQQQQ copy.gif

    Home |  Testing Services  |  Technical Information  |  Consulting  |  Customer Services  |  Careers  |  Contact Us   

 

 

Technical Information (UK) copy.gif

TOYS

CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS

CHEMICAL

ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC

HARDLINES

SOFTLINES

REGULATIONS OF DIFFERENT

    COUNTRIES

 

 

 

ASK ONLINE (UK) copy.gif

 

 

 

Effectiveness of Antimicrobial Preservatives

 

USP 51 – United States Pharmacopoeia – The National Formulary, USP XXIII, 1995, General Chapter 51  

 

Test Parameters

 

Antimicrobial Preservatives – Effectiveness:

Tested Organism                               - Candida albicans (ATCC No. 10231)                        

        - Aspergillus niger (ATCC No. 16404)                         

        - Escherichia coli (ATCC No. 8739)                          

                                - Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC No. 9027)                    

                                                        - Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC No. 6538)                     

Results

 

Recovered Inoculum cfu/ml (% Reduction) is determined on Day 7, Day 14, Day 21 and Day 28.

cfu = colony forming unit

 

Toy Cosmetics

 

With regard to toys, Clause 4.3.6.4 of ASTM F963-07 refers to USP 51 for the potential microbiological degradation of toy cosmetics.

 

 

 

 

Details of the organisms

 

Candida albicans is a diploid fungus (a form of yeast), which is capable of mating but not of meiosis, and a causal agent of opportunistic oral and genital infections in humans. Systemic fungal infections (fungemias) have emerged as important causes of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients (e.g., AIDS, cancer chemotherapy, organ or bone marrow transplantation). In addition, hospital-related infections in patients not previously considered at risk (e.g. patients in an intensive care unit) have become a cause of major health concern.

C. albicans is among the gut flora, the many organisms which live in the human mouth and gastrointestinal tract. Under normal circumstances, C. albicans lives in 80% of the human population with no harmful effects, although overgrowth results in candidiasis. Candidiasis is often observed in immunocompromised individuals such as HIV-positive patients. Candidiasis also may occur in the blood and in the genital tract. Candidiasis, also known as "thrush", is a common condition which is usually easily cured in people who are not immunocompromised. To infect host tissue, the usual unicellular yeast-like form of Candida albicans reacts to environmental cues and switches into an invasive, multicellular filamentous forms.

 

Aspergillus niger is a fungus and one of the most common species of the genus Aspergillus. It causes a disease called black mold on certain fruits and vegetables such as grapes, onions, and peanuts, and is a common contaminant of food. It is ubiquitous in soil and is commonly reported from indoor environments, where its black colonies can be confused with those of Stachybotrys (species of which have also been called "black mold").

Some strains of A. niger have been reported to produce potent mycotoxins called ochratoxins, but other sources disagree, claiming the latter report is based upon misidentification of the fungal species. Genomic sequence comparisons have also led to the demonstration of another Fumonisins, another important mycotoxin Recent evidence suggests some true A. niger strains do produce ochratoxin A.

 

Escherichia coli (E.coli) is a bacterium that is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded animals. Most E. coli strains are harmless, but some, such as serotype O157:H7, can cause serious food poisoning in humans, and are occasionally responsible for costly product recalls. The harmless strains are part of the normal flora of the gut, and can benefit their hosts by producing vitamin K2, or by preventing the establishment of pathogenic bacteria within the intestine.[4][5]

E. coli are not always confined to the intestine, and their ability to survive for brief periods outside the body makes them an ideal indicator organism to test environmental samples for fecal contamination. The bacteria can also be grown easily and its genetics are comparatively simple and easily-manipulated, making it one of the best-studied prokaryotic model organisms, and an important species in biotechnology. E. coli was discovered by German pediatrician and bacteriologist Theodor Escherich in 1885, and is now classified as part of the Enterobacteriaceae family of gamma-proteobacteria.

 

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped bacterium with unipolar motility. An opportunistic human pathogen, P. aeruginosa is also an opportunistic pathogen of plants. P. aeruginosa is the type species of the genus Pseudomonas (Migula 1894).

P. aeruginosa secretes a variety of pigments, including pyocyanin (blue-green), fluorescein (yellow-green and fluorescent, now also known as pyoverdin), and pyorubin (red-brown). King, Ward, and Raney developed Pseudomonas Agar P (aka King A media) for enhancing pyocyanin and pyorubin production and Pseudomonas Agar F (aka King B media) for enhancing fluorescein production.

P. aeruginosa is often preliminarily identified by its pearlescent appearance and grape-like odor in vitro. Definitive clinical identification of P. aeruginosa often includes identifying the production of both pyocyanin and fluorescein as well as its ability to grow at 42°C. P. aeruginosa is capable of growth in diesel and jet fuel, where it is known as a hydrocarbon-utilizing microorganism (or "HUM bug"), causing microbial corrosion. It creates dark gellish mats sometimes improperly called "algae" because of their appearance.

Although classified as an aerobic organism, P. aeruginosa is considered by many as a facultative anaerobe as it is well adapted to proliferate in conditions of partial or total oxygen depletion. This organism can achieve anaerobic growth with nitrate as a terminal electron acceptor, and in its absence it is also able to ferment arginine by substrate-level phosphorylation. Adaptation to microaerobic or anaerobic environments is essential for certain lifestyles of P. aeruginosa, like during lung infection in cystic fibrosis patients where thick layers of alginate surrounding bacterial mucoid cells can limit the diffusion of oxygen.

 

Staphylococcus aureus literally "Golden Cluster Seed" and also known as golden staph, is the most common cause of staph infections. It is a spherical bacterium, frequently living on the skin or in the nose of a person. Approximately 20–30% of the general population are "staph carriers". Staphylococcus aureus can cause a range of illnesses from minor skin infections, such as pimples, impetigo (may also be caused by Streptococcus pyogenes), boils, cellulitis folliculitis, furuncles, carbuncles, scalded skin syndrome and abscesses, to life-threatening diseases, such as pneumonia, meningitis, osteomyelitis endocarditis, Toxic shock syndrome (TSS), and septicemia. Its incidence is from skin, soft tissue, respiratory, bone, joint, endovascular to wound infections. It is still one of the four most common causes of nosocomial infections, often causing postsurgical wound infections. Abbreviated to S. aureus or Staph aureus in medical literature, S. aureus should not be confused with the similarly named (and also medically relevant) species of the genus Streptococcus. It is often found in the nostrils of the human body.

S. aureus was discovered in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1880 by the surgeon Sir Alexander Ogston in pus from surgical abscesses. Each year some 500,000 patients in American hospitals contract a staphylococcal infection.

 

 

© 2008 Professional Testing & Consulting Ltd.  All rights reserved.