Prepration and quality control of hand-packaged oral rehydration salt sachets

Abstract

The feasibility of a simple method for preparation of oral rehydration salt (ORS) packets suitable for cottage industry-scale production over a 3-year period was tested. Each packet contained ingredients for making a liter of ORS solution, according to the WHO formula, except that glucose was replaced with sucrose. In each batch, ingredients for 200 packets were mixed thoroughly in a bowl, and a standardized scoop was used to measure the mixture for one liter. Then the ingredients were sealed in polyethylene bags. From each batch of 200 packets. 3 to 5 one liter bags were tested for weight and electrolyte content. The mean concentrations of sodium, potassium, chloride and bicarbonate in 3.359 packets were: 89.8, 19.8,77.9 and 29.6 m mol/L, respectively. The shelf lives of the ORS packets were tested in different seasons, under various conditions of temperature and humidity. It was found that the ORS mixtures changed color from white to light brown, although the electrolyte concentrations remained almost unchanged up to 8 months storage. A simple quality control method suitable for rural Bangladesh was developed by titrimetric estimation of the chloride in an ORS solution.