Product Review: Germ-Force by Prairie Naturals

Today’s product review (after a relatively lengthy hiatus, natch) is for something I picked up over the weekend to replace the Purell bottle on my desk prior to the start of the hard-core flu season.

Product: Germ-Force, produced by Prairie Naturals.

Sub-Heading: “moisturizing hand sanitizer | antibacterial | paraben free

Ingredient List:

1.  denatured grain alcohol

This ingredient is not specifically tagged in the Skin Deep database.  The closest matches I could find were for either “alcohol denatured” (weighing in at a hefty 4/10) or “alcohol, denatured 38F” (weighing in at a much more comfortable 0/10) or “alcohol, denatured 3A” (also at a nice 0/10 on the hazard scale).  

If we’re talking about the 4/10 rating, the specific risks were:

• Cancer
• Developmental/Reproductive Toxicity
• Strong Concern:Multiple, Additive Exposure Sources
• Strong Concern:Enhanced Skin Absorption
• Moderate Concern:Organ System Toxicity (non-reproductive)
• Moderate Concern: Irritation (skin, eyes or lungs)

2. aloe vera gel

This ingredient was ranked at 1/10 on the hazard risk scale, which classifies as a “low hazard” risk.   Specific risks based on the SkinDeep ranking system include:

• Developmental/Reproductive Toxicity
• Violations, Restrictions & Warnings
• Lesser or Emerging Concerns:  Organ System Toxicity (non-reproductive)
• Lesser or Emerging Concerns:  Data Gaps

3. vegetable glycerin

This ingredient was ranked at 1/10 on the hazard risk scale, which classifies as a “low hazard” risk.  The specific risks are listed as follows:

• Moderate Concern: Organ System Toxicity (non-reproductive)
• Lesser or Emerging Concern: Data Gaps

4. natural fragrance of green apple

No match was found for this ingredient.

For more information on Prairie Naturals in the Skin Deep Database, here is where to go.

Summary: 

Out of four ingredients, two rated a 1/10, one rated either a 0/10 or a 4/10 (so I’m going to split the difference at 2/10), and one contained no information for the substance so I’m not going to include it in the ranking.

Based on the above, it looks like this product nets out at approximately 1.333 on the hazard rankings on a scale from 0-10.  Low hazard.

What do you think?  Are you comfortable with this?

Blog Clean-Up

I’ve decided to clean up this blog and remove the CFIA recall notices.

To subscribe to the CFIA email blasts, go here (http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/tools/listserv/listsube.shtml)

Hope this helps!

kensington market organic ice cream: my current favourite

Ice Cream Purveyor: Kensington Market Organic Ice Cream
Overall Rating: @@@@@
Flavours Tried (so far!): Caramel Ripple, Cardomon Vanilla, Yoghurt Raisin Khulfi, Fig, Blueberry Lavender, Vanilla

This is my favourite place to go for ice cream right now.

Ok, so the staff is a little more casual than you might be used to at Baskin Robbins or any of your other standard ice cream eateries. And “hand packed” isn’t quite as full as you might be used to either. But OMG, is the ice cream good.

What I like about Kensington Organics as well is that most of their offerings are, well, organic. And what isn’t organic is clearly labeled so you can avoid it without any problem. The biggest drag is that it’s only open as a storefront for a few months out of the year; the rest of the time you have to hunt it down at health food stores across the city and pay $2/pint more while you’re at it.

The actual address is 650-1/2 Queen Street West (Google Maps didn’t like that address so I just put in 650 instead), but in realistic terms what you do is walk north on Palmerston from Queen and you’ll see it on your right hand side (across from the gallery).

It’s a little challenging to find the storefront spot, so I’m going to help you out here:

View Larger Map

Details on the company, flavours and place can also be found on Facebook here.

Based on the flavours I’ve tried so far, here are my thoughts (below).

Caramel Ripple = @@@@@
Going by memory on this one, but it was delish.

Cardomon Vanilla = @@@@@
No memory required on this — I can still taste it. It’s a flavour I remember from childhood and have been looking for ever since. Until I had it at Kensington Market Organic Ice Cream again last week. Talk about a sense memory. Wow.

Vanilla (regular, organic) = @@@@
It’s good … and it’s organic … but it’s not quite as kick-you-in-the-ass as the other kinds of vanilla offered.

Blueberry Lavender = @@@@
This is an odd one. It kind of comes around from behind to give you a burst of flavour. But if you’re going to get it, eat it right there. Once you take it home and it sits in your freezer for a day or two, the flavour dissipates and there is this slightly odd aftertaste. At least until it melts a bit again. Definitely worth a try if you like blueberries and you don’t mind lavender.

Fig = @@@
I like figs. I like ice cream. I even like fig ice cream. But this one was … too much with the fig, not enough with the ice cream. Suggest you get it if you have a really strong craving for figs. Or you mix it with vanilla. Otherwise, I might be inclined to pass.

Yoghurt Raisin Khulfi = @@@@@
OMFG. Not organic. Made from sweet and condensed milk and using an Indian recipe. But it’s got that same lingering taste on your tongue of the vanilla cardomon — only richer. With crunchy bits. I’m really hoping they make this flavour again.

So there you have it. A big push for Kensington Market Organic Ice Cream. They say they’ll have some dairy-free options soon; let’s see how that goes.

organic coffee: rich flavour, a little strong

Coffee: Fair Trade & Organic Island Reserve Dark
Rating: @@@@
Found: Casa Acoreana & Luis Coffee Stop, Kensington Market

This coffee is darker and stronger than the Rainforest blend from yesterday. Island Reserve Dark is a mid-week coffee, harsher and with a kick that may help get you over the humpday blahs. Eminently drinkable, it’s a pale substitute for you espresso drinkers and yet a bit on the concentrated side for medium-roast blend palates.

You can drink it on an empty stomach, but you might want to add milk and sugar; you’re also probably going to need something food-like to follow it up with within an hour or two of ingesting the liquid caffeinated goodness.

Definitely worth trying. If I hadn’t had the Rainforest blend and loved it, I would probably be reasonably content with this coffee on a daily basis.