Preservative systems on the basis of cationic surfactants are known i n the art, a typical example of such cationic surfactants is the ethyl ester of the lauramide of arginine monohydrochloride (LAE) (2). Besides the chloride form the corresponding bromide and sulphate salts are known. It was found that other salts of the cationic surfactants display excellent properties, such as the salts of lactic acid, glutamic acid and acetic acid. It was further found that the combination of the cationic surfactants with at least one salt of an organic or inorganic acid displayed an excellent preservative action. A further preservative system with favourable properties was the combination of the cationic surfactants with at least one ester compound, amide or enzyme inhibitor. Also the combination of the cationic surfactant with a further cationic molecule such as ethyl arginate, glucosamine or chitosan led to an effective preservative system. A further effective preservative system turned out to be the cationic surfactant in encapsulated form.
