Evaluation of microbial content of some sunscreen creams in Iran’s market

Cosmetic products should be easy to use, effective, and especially safe. Microbial contamination in cosmetic products will be follow risk of infection of consumer and due to extensive uses and no standardization of some cosmetics, possibility of transferring contamination and risk of infections by types of bacteria not unexpected and from the perspective of health at the community level is important (1, 2). Skin is the first barrier for body protection. Skin due to is sensitive and very vulnerable, using of suitable sunscreens is the most common way of skin protection in front of direct sunlight (3). Sunscreens are not sterile products but according to the topical application, those must have the necessary microbial criteria. Preservatives are used to prevent growing of microorganisms in water containing product during use. They must be free of pathogen microorganisms and total number of aerobic microorganism per gram or milliliter must be in pharmacopeia criteria (3-7). Microbial counts below 500 CFU/g for eye-area product and 1000 CFU/g for non-eye-area products are accepted in United States Pharmacoepeia (8). Based on these criteria, Staphylococcus aureus and Abstract The risk of microbial contamination in the cosmetic products especially in smuggled preparations and transmission of it to consumers is very high. In this study, the microbial content and the pollution of some sunscreen creams in the market and one sample in official market as witness were evaluated. The microbial content (bacterial total count, fungal count, and presence of Pseudomon asaeroginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Entrobacter) of 5 samples of sunscreen cream in the market and two samples in official market were evaluated by two methods (pour plate and Multiple tube technique). All samples showed high microbial and fungal contamination. Entrobacters was observed in all samples. Staphylococcus aureus was recognized in one of the non-standard sunscreens. High level of contamination in sunscreen creams, can affect consumers, health. It seems that low grade raw materials, and insufficient manufacturing surveillance in production process are the main factors in the contamination.