hygienic manufacturing practice in cosmetic lab.

A high water concentration, a neutral pH-range, the combination of water, oil, glycerin, plant extracts, Proteins, etc. all provide the optimum growth condition for microorganisms.

Hygienic Manufacturing Practice is one of the greatest challenges in the pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetic industry. Look at the warnings and calls of withdrawal from the official and controlling organizations such as FDA in the USA, Rapex in the EU or Bundesamt für Verbraucherschutz und Lebensmittelsicherheit in Germany. How often are products from well-known manufacturers withdrawn from the market because of a contamination?

It happens much faster than you can imagine. In a jiffy are the non-invited creatures there and grow and reproduce themselves in a very short time. Before you may even suspect their presence, they have already contaminated your product. It is a damage to your product (color, consistency, odor, appearance), your good name, your investment, and believe me your nerves and is a health risk for you and your customers. 

Before you submerge more deeply into the pleasure of lotion crafting or developing a cosmetic lab, no matter how big the capacity and no matter whether you're going to produce only for yourself or to sell the products, plan a strategy for your hygienic manufacturing practice. Investing a few hours at the very beginning for a good plan can save you several hours and protect your nerves which you'll loose later in case of a failing plan. 

Here are some elementary guidelines and general advices for hygienic manufacturing practice. 

Please be informed that these are general recommendation. In some specific cases (podology practice, dental practice etc. you're only allowed to apply registered commercial disinfectants). 

1- Disinfect your counter (for a more detailed explanation about disinfection, sanitation and sterilization click here- The post consists of 4 parts).

There are ready to use or concentrated surface disinfectants available on the market or you may apply alcohol or a mixture of different alcohols (synergy effect) for surface disinfection. Not all chemicals are safe to all surfaces. Make sure that the chemicals in the disinfectant do not damage your surface.

Ethanol has disinfecting effect from 30%. The highest activity is by 80%.

Isopropanol has disinfecting effect from 30%. The highest activity is by 70%.

n-Propanolhas disinfecting effect from 30%. The highest activity is by 60%.

2- Sanitize and disinfect your hands (it is sometimes advisable or even necessary to carry disposable gloves, specially if you're sensitive to alcohol)

Sanitization is carried on with tap water and a nonmedical soap. You may use ready made commercial solution or a mixture of alcohols for disinfection.

3- Disinfect the instruments, beakers, spatulas, containers, etc.

I personally recommend sparing with alcohol. You may buy commercial disinfectants or prepare your own mixture, or even applying vodka.  Spraying the solution increases the dispersion and is more economical than rinsing the instruments in alcohol. In some older DIY-books and recipes chlorine containing solutions (Sodium hypochlorite) are recommended for disinfection. They are however, not really environmental friendly and cause sensitization in many cases. 

You may as well disinfect your instruments physically instead of chemically:

By applying dry heat, flame is applied to disinfect the instruments. This method is mainly applied in medical labs and is not very applicable in your cosmetic lab. You may only flame your stainless spatula.

Steam is mainly applied for clothes and textiles or instruments and dishes/vessels. A steam jet (100 degree celsius, 15 minutes) is applied or the objects are cooked in boiling water for at least 3 minutes.

I personally do not recommend sterilization in pressure cooker as some authors do. From my point of view, sterilization makes a sense and is effective only if you manufacture and pack under sterile conditions (such as disposable syringes and injection needles) which is not the case in our cosmetic lab.

4- Remove anything which you do not need specifically for a certain project.

5- Keep a record, keep a record and keep a record. 

In case of any contamination or any unwanted effects, you can track back the origin of the problem only if you keep a meticulous documentation.