The Scientific Research Council (SRC) is appealing to local producers of personal care products, such as soaps and lotions, to reach out to them to confirm the safety of their formulations.
Executive Director at the SRC, Dr. Cliff Riley,speaking at a JIS ‘Think Tank’ on August 22, said that the SRC is there to ensure that the science is right, and that the various processes in putting together their formulations make stable effective soaps that are safe for use.
“Once any product comes in contact with the human body, it has to be safe; otherwise we can have persons putting concoctions together that cause more harm than good,” he said.
Meanwhile, Divisional Manager, Product Research and Development at the SRC,Dr.Charra Watson, said thatas much as it might seem simple to do, there are a lot of things to take into consideration, because if you are not proportioning your lyes to oils properly,“you may make a soap that is very caustic and may be very dangerous”.
The SRC, whichhas been hosting personal care workshops for seven years, has the capacity to test and correct formulations for safe public consumption.
Bar-soap making;food processing; sauce production; meat processing; production of jams, jellies, personal care products and body washes are some of the areas on which the SRC workshops focus.
For her part, Manager for Marketing and Corporate Communications at the SRC, Carolyn Rose Miller, said that this appeal “is part of the SRC’s thrust in enabling public safety, and enabling compliance to industry standards”.
