ABSTRACT
In recent years, there has been increasing interest in developing and marketing natural cosmetics, including those that are "preservative-free" (i.e., products that do not contain ingredients commonly recognized as antimicrobial preservatives), to meet the consumer demand for natural products. Although cosmetics and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are not necessarily intended to be sterile, satisfactorily preserved aqueous formulas in multiple-use containers must have a preservative system that makes them self-sterilizing (i.e., self-preserving) or they must be packaged/stored in such a manner that microbial contamination and growth is not possible.
