Industrial and Consumer Products

The diversity of products which can be infected by microbes and the range of problems they cause is too extensive to consider in detail here. Some are considered in more detail in other sections of this website.

Dry and aqueous raw materials, cleaning fluids, silicone oils, pharmaceuticals and medical products and devices, alcohols, cosmetics and toiletries are just some of the other products and materials which can be affected by microbial contamination.

Products which are water based are most susceptible to attack but even "dry" products may contain sufficient water for microbial growth. Products which are susceptible to microbial attack will usually contain preservatives but these can fail to work due to inadequate dosing or mixing and /or chemical incompatibility with the preserved product. Gross contamination of the production plant can result in overloading of the preservative system so that it is no longer effective. Most preservatives have a finite life and therefore even if "clean" when produced, products can become contaminated in use.

ECHA offers a wide range of services including advice and testing to assist in the selection and evaluation of preservatives, identification of contamination sources, monitoring of contamination in raw materials and final products, auditing of production facilities and procedures and recommendations for good manufacturing practice. ECHA’s test kits can also be an invaluable tool for ensuring good quality of final products. ECHA can also advise on best practice for meeting microbial limit specifications or, for example in the case of medical devices, sterility. In our laboratory we can conduct testing using validated methods to ensure product compliance.