572 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS Table VI. Replicate analyses of selected products Product type No. of items Mean and (range) of colony forming units g-• at 25 ø, PCA 37 ø, PCA 25 ø, SDA Bath detergent Face cream Surface sample Mixed sample Foundation cream 6 100 345 10 ( 10-205 000) 6 10 31 ( 10-40) ( 10-100) 6 21 13 ( 10-45) ( 10-35) 6 65 298 ( 10-210) ( 10-700) Toothpaste 6 10 10 (• 10-60) Skin lotion 6 • 10 33 ( 10-10) ( 10-95) Eyeliner 12 121 758 41 ( 10-1 460 000) ( 10-270) Compressed face powder Surface sample Mixed sample 24Y 10-80Y NT* NT 110Y, 65M• ( 10-320Y) ( 10-180M) 10 10 27Y ( 10-160Y) 37 ø Anaerobic, RCA 6 498 352 NT (280-660) (215-470) 6 311 225 1180 (90-550) (85-390) (360-2700) * NT, Not tested. ? Y=Yeasts M =moulds. Examination of replicate units of single brands of toothpaste, skin lotion/face cream and foundation cream for which counts below 300 cfu g-• had previously been recorded, provided confirmatory evidence for the low levels of contamination of these items. The counts obtained from surface samples and mixed samples of the face cream did not differ markedly and were in any case below the level of statistical significance for the plate count method. The replicate units of one brand of compressed face powder were also examined using both surface sample and mixed sample procedures. The counts obtained at 25 ø and 37øC were higher in most instances from surface samples than from mixed samples. However, although the difference was significant at the 5• level for counts at 37øC, no statistically significant

MICROBIAL CONTAMINATION OF COSMETICS AND TOILETRIES 573 difference was observed for the counts made at 25øC. The counts of anaero- bic bacteria on these units were much higher (mean count 1180 cfu g-•) than had been observed previously. Observations on packaging of the products studied The majority of products were packaged such that post-packaging contamination would not be likely to occur before the product was used. Attempts to correlate colony counts with type of packaging were unsuc- cessful. Although a few products were clearly coded, this was not evident in the majority of items examined and the absence of coding would make difficult any retrospective attempt by the manufacturer to check against the production batch if consumer complaints subsequently occurred. There were no obvious differences between colony counts from units of different size nor from small or large retail outlets. Although differences in brand gave rise to differences in the levels of contamination of particular product types it was not possible to determine the incidence of contamina- tion for any particular brand because of the small number of items examined for individual brands. DISCUSSION This survey demonstrates that in 1971 about 90• of a diverse range of cosmetic products and toiletry preparations contained fewer than 1000 viable microorganisms per g of product and that over 50•o of the items examined were essentially 'sterile'. Of those items which were contaminated, few contained more than 105 organisms g-•. The most heavily contaminated products were specific brands of eye make-up (especially liquid eyeliner), bath detergent and complete make-up. Unfortunately, tests for the presence of specific organisms such as Pseudomonas aeroginosa were not made on these products during the present investigation. From random selection of items it is not possible to determine whether the observed contamination reflects poor manufacturing conditions, post-process contamination or overlong storage by the retailer. For those products where high colony counts were observed also in the repeat examinations it is probable that the high colony counts reflect poor manufacturing conditions. Tests to assess whether these products might have become spoiled by growth of the contaminating organisms was not undertaken, but other workers (4, 5)