abstract
A total of 57 brands of commercially available hair and skin care cosmetics manufactured in Jordan were
evaluated for their microbiological quality using standard procedures. Viable microorganisms were not
recovered from 56.1% of the items tested and approximately 5.3% harbored less than 102 CFU g1
.
Dominant bacterial isolates were Bacillus species, Pseudomonas spp., and coagulase-negative staphylococci.
Further testing of different batches of the brands that were found to be contaminated with
>104 CFU g1 revealed that the problem was persistent in these products. Preservative efficacy tests were
carried out for the contamination-free brands using Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 9027. This test
demonstrated that 28.1% of the products tested were inadequately preserved. It is concluded that poor
microbiological quality of the preparations investigated can be attributed to either a problem inherent in
the formulation of these brands and/or poor manufacturing hygiene. It is hoped that the implementation
of good manufacturing practice in the Jordan’s cosmetics industry will improve the microbiological
quality of these products.