How to check the quality of an essential oil?

Essential oils are natural products, with powerful therapeutic virtues and generally have a high market value. The supply available on the essential oils market is therefore very diverse in terms of quality, for 3 main reasons:

• The first is that nature is not a factory : it is not capable of producing the same standard product twice. Each plant is a living organism whose fruit will depend on the genetics of the plant, its growing conditions, the weather, the land that nourishes it, etc. For essential oils, this natural variation in quality is increased by the fact that we use a concentrated extract of the active ingredients of the plant. It goes without saying that this concentration further accentuates the natural variability of each plant. By the sole intervention of nature, batches of essential oils bearing the same name are often of very different quality, even from the same plantation. Of course, this difference is greatly accentuated when the biotopes are not the same.
• The second cause of this strong diversity of qualities, it's fraud. Essential oils are particularly affected by this risk of fraud: they are expensive and sometimes come from the other side of the planet, with numerous intermediaries. Cases of fraud are legion, and often go unnoticed until the end consumer. This may involve dilution with simple raw materials (water, alcohol, fatty substances, etc.), mixing with a similar and less expensive essential oil, modification of the essential oil by the addition of synthetic compounds or by physical processes, etc. The imagination of fraudsters can go very far, and the impact of fraud is far from negligible on the average quality of essential oils.
• Finally, the third and last cause is the diversity of modes of use essential oils. Indeed, essential oils are aimed at a very varied panel of consumers, with very different quality expectations. At the top of expectations is aromatherapy, then comes DIY cosmetics, use in ambient diffusion, and individual use for household products. This diversity of expectations actually maintains a diversity of qualities available on the market.

The subject of the quality of essential oils is therefore a very critical subject. This is not about nitpicking, but about real impacting factors. The objective of this article is to help you find your way if you are looking 100% natural, pure, therapeutic grade essential oils. To learn more about quality variations intrinsic to essential oils, go here:

First of all, let's chemically clarify the facts. A plant containing pesticides will yield an essential oil containing pesticides. Distillation does not filter out pesticides, and these are unfortunately present in essential oils. The use of pesticides in organic farming is very regulated and more restricted than in conventional agriculture: the few authorized phytoprotective substances have in common that they are devoid of intrinsic toxicity. In addition, organic regulations require these substances to be used only as a last resort, when no other preventive measures can be implemented. Unlike a plant grown conventionally, an organic plant therefore presents a low risk of containing pesticide residues. 

From a physiological point of view, it must be remembered that the bioavailability of essential oils is excellent: this means that the components of essential oils are very quickly present in the tissues and the blood network. This is what makes them strong, and their potential toxicity. If you have pesticides in your bottle and you use this bottle for therapeutic purposes, you will therefore administer pesticides (you do not know which ones) where they can act directly, without a filter. The use of non-organic (conventional) essential oils for treatment must therefore be absolutely avoided, for health reasons above all.

If you are looking for therapeutic quality, we also recommend that you avoid any brand that distributes organic and conventional essential oils depending on the product. This often happens, these brands adopting the ORGANIC label for references where the price difference is not significant (Tea Tree, Peppermint, Ravintsara, etc.), but switching to conventional essential oils as soon as the price difference is greater. important, for reasons of raw material cost (Italian Helichrysum, Chamomiles, etc.), difficulty of supply, etc. This is a weak signal for the brand as a whole, which is deliberately located in a less therapeutic area (well-being distribution, soaps, detergents, etc.).

From the point of view of biodiversity, it is also valuable to defend organic sectors, which are prohibited from using synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. And for good reason, pesticides have a strong impact on terrestrial fauna, herbicides are responsible for the decline of many flowers and seeds essential to many species of insects and birds and nitrogen fertilizers have negative impacts on biodiversity. aquatic. In fact, we find on average 30% more species and 50% more individuals in organic farming plots than in conventional plots.

Finally, from the point of view of fraud control and traceability, you should know that the requirements of organic certification, even if they are not sufficient, contribute to greater control of the quality of essential oils. A 100% ORGANIC brand assures you that monitoring processes are in place, and that these are regularly audited (twice a year on average). This makes it possible to avoid a large number of fraudulent batches, which are much more numerous in conventional batches than in ORGANIC batches. For example, at the moment, almost all batches of conventional wintergreen on the market contain around 30% synthetic methyl salicylate. In ORGANIC, the fraud rate on this product is much lower.

To conclude : should you only use organic essential oils to treat yourself? For all the reasons cited above, this seems pretty obvious. Going further, we could even say that we should favor brands that only sell organic essential oils for any therapeutic use.

Chemotype is a word commonly used in aromatherapy jargon, but its interpretation varies and continues to evolve depending on the professionalization of the sector. Originally, this word designated the necessary distinction that had to be made between a Thujanol Thyme for example, and a Thymol Thyme, and this distinction therefore only concerned a few species: thymes, rosemary, lavender, etc. .

Today, when we talk about a chemotyped essential oil, we are talking about an essential oil whose following 3 components are known to the manufacturer and specified on the label:

• The precise botanical definition, in Latin therefore, including genus, species and subspecies or variety (if applicable). For example, for a Rosemary with Verbenone: Rosmarinus officinalis L. verbenoniferum, which does not have at all the same properties as a Cinéole Rosemary: Rosmarinus officinalis L. cineoliferum. In France, it has become very rare, fortunately, to find essential oils that do not make this distinction. However, be wary of certain major American brands which are as expensive as they are of poor quality.
• The main molecules found in this essential oil. This is a short list containing the few main molecules of this chemotype, without details on the expected concentrations. A Ravintsara for example, must mention the composition in 1.8 cineole, in sabinene, in alpha terpineol.
• The origin of the plant and therefore of its essential oil. This is critical data that is often missing, and which can have a considerable impact on the price of the essential oil. However, it is essential to guarantee a chemotype, and clearly and precisely completes the list of molecules. An essential oil of Chamomile from Nepal for example, will contain a lot ofalpha bisabolol, but only 5% instead of 35% in a Hungarian Chamomile.

A chemotyped essential oil is therefore an essential oil defined, even on the label, on these 3 criteria: botanical (precisely) + composition (approximately) + origin (precisely). If you want to benefit from therapeutic virtues via essential oils, orally or through the skin, the use of chemotyped essential oils is essential, for reasons of efficiency, but also of security. So check your bottles carefully, and strongly favor brands indicating the origin of the lot sold. 

Your essential oil is ORGANIC, it is chemotyped: this is already very good, and rather rare. If you use this essential oil to purify the air in your home with a diffuser, or for a DIY cosmetic cream recipe, it is of sufficient quality. If you're waiting for therapeutic use, you're almost there. You still have to check brand transparency concerning the analyzes it carries out for each batch.

• This assures you that the brand has a solid control plan. Today, we cannot avoid fraud with simple intuitions or random checks. Each batch must be tested, at least to check the composition of the essential oil and its few basic physical components (density, refractive index, etc.). For the essential oils most at risk, additional tests must be planned.

• This assures you that the choice of its chemotype is relevant or that it has been worked on, that it is not motivated by pecuniary interests, but by precise specifications, corroborated by public analyses. The composition of essential oils is further specified in most aromatherapy books. This allows users to compare with that put forward by the brand, and verify that it is indeed the chemotype they are looking for. For example, an essential oil of Italian Helichrysum from the Balkans can be completely chemotyped... but this chemotype is not the right one if we wish to benefit from the properties recognized in aromatherapy works for Italian Helichrysum.

• And finally this encourages the brand to maintain consistency with respect to the advertised quality. Claiming to sell the best essential oils is one thing, voluntarily publishing your analyses, at the risk of having to be held accountable, is another.

Within the framework given above, the following analyzes should be carried out and analyzed for each batch of essential oil, in order to reject those who do not meet expectations.

• The most important of these is thechromatographic analysis. It is an analysis which allows us to know precisely the composition of the essential oil: which molecules, and in what quantity? This analysis and its interpretation must be the heart of any quality approach in aromatherapy.
• Next comes the control of organoleptic characteristics. Each essential oil has a unique color, smell and appearance, identifiable among other essential oils, even those from the same plant family. Sometimes, this control makes it possible to detect faulty qualities that chromatography would not have seen.
• And finally, the analysis of certain physical data such as density, refractive index and rotary power, which again make it possible to exclude certain batches.

Of course, the established control plan should not be reduced to these analyses, but in terms of systematic analyses, batch by batch, we have a sufficient basis here.

• The physical and chemical specifications of the essential oil, its specifications as it were, must be public (website, technical sheets, etc.).
• A batch number must be mentioned on the bottle.
• On the brand's website, the analysis results of the batch must be available. It is therefore possible to compare them to the specifications put forward.

As there is no certifying body for this quality requirement, voluntary brand transparency on its specifications and the tests it carries out for each product is decisive in the trust you can place in it.

If we summarize: to ensure the therapeutic quality of an essential oil, it is therefore above all necessary that it be certified organic, that his chemotype is specified and verified (that it is chemotyped), and finally and above all that the results of its analyzes are accessible.