Evaluation of the microbiological quality and stability of folic acid tablets formulated with sorghum starch

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the microbiological quality and stability of folic acid tablets formulated with sorghum starch as a binder and to compare them with folic acid tablets formulated with corn starch BP, a standard binder. The microbiological quality of the starches, the formulated granules and folic acid tablets prepared by wet granulation, at specific periods of time under varying temperature and humidity conditions was investigated. Results indicated that maize starch had a level of microbial contaminants, comparable with the locally extracted sorghum starch. The level of microbial contamination, which was higher when non-sterile distilled water was used as the diluting medium than when sterile distilled water was employed, was shown to be dependent on
both the temperature and relative humidity, with high humidity supporting microbial growth in the products. Folic acid tablets formulated with the two different starches exhibited lower level of microbial contaminants than the raw corn and sorgum starches, indicating possible denaturation of the
mainly vegetative organisms during tableting. Further bioevaluation is advocated to assess the effect of compression during tableting on the level of microbial contamination.

Keywords: Folic acid, stability, sorgum starch, microbioligical quality, tablets.