Be more sensitive for hygiene

COSSMA: The new edition of the book “Betriebshygiene in der Kosmetik”
(Industrial Hygiene in the Cosmetic Sector) has been published. Why a new edition?

Joelle Nussbaum: The first edition was published in 2007. For the first time the reader had access to compact and practical information on all aspects of hygiene in the production of cosmetics. Many innovations have been made since then. For example, there has been a whole series of new ISO standards on microbiology and cosmetics, such as the ISO 17516 about microbial limits for cosmetics.

The latest technological developments are also considered. Twelve years later, an update was required; however, the members of the “Microbiology and Industrial Hygiene” section of the DGK (German Cosmetic Society) found that a simple update of the individual chapters was insufficient. Each chapter was updated and some werde completely rewritten by members of the section.

This extensive activity has taken many months, so we are pleased to present this book to the reader as the state of the art. Thanks to all the involved members.

Expectations of hygienic production of cosmetics are constantly rising. Why publish the new edition just now?

That is correct and it is also very important to be more and more sensitive

to this topic. Companies are still very differently positioned when it comes to hygiene. Often it is associated with more costs, but not with more security. It is only when a major case of contamination, or even a recall occurs, that the company becomes more acutely aware of the importance of the issue. Unfortunately, there are recalls again and again.¹ It is therefore very important to update the content of the book and to keep the reader up to date. At the same time, we are currently observing the following trends in cosmetics:

• New formulations are getting less and less preserved in the classical sense.
• Detergents and disinfectants used in production are becoming “milder”.

We have not observed more positive results in the microbiological tests of the finished products than in the past, but not less than in the past either. Some other microorganisms are detected, which may even have the possibility to multiply in the product or in the environment and so be very problematic.

To follow this development, it is essential to consider hygiene as one of the key elements of the microbiological safety of the product.

Is there an English version of the book?

Yes, in 2010 an English version of the first edition was published, the original translation of the 1st edition.² For the second edition we’ll wait with a translation until we see how the German-speaking area receives the 2nd edition

of this book.³

What else does your department deal with?

There are many exciting topics in microbiology and they definitely do not lose their relevance. We have recently published articles on microbiological quality costs.⁴ For the first time, the role of microbiological tests and tasks in different processes is described with respect to costs, cost reductions and risk assessment.

There are also many new and exciting topics about the quality requirements within the framework of microbiological investigations, for example in the form of questions and answers.⁵ Furthermore, everyone is currently talking about the keyword “microbiome”. Here, too, we are working on creating facts.

References

^1. More Information about recalls from Safety Gate: https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/consumers_safety/safety_products/rapex/alerts/?event=main.listNotifications&lng=de 

^2. The English book can be ordered at https://www.sofw.com/de/shop/buecher/

product/327-dgk-industrial-hygiene-in-the-cosmetics-sector

^3. The book can be ordered at https://www.sofw.com/de/shop/buecher/product/

386-dgk-betriebshygiene-in-der-kosmetik-2-ueberarbeitete-ausgabe-2019

^4. https://web.dgk-ev.de/mikrobiologie-teil-2

^5. For these two publications: https://www.bav-institut.de/de/fachinformationen/Kosmetik