Methods of Adulteration

Unfortunately, as in every industry, there are individuals who pursue dishonest practices in order to increase their profits. As a result, we must always proceed with caution when making our purchasing decisions. That being said, spending a bit extra on quality products can be beneficial in the long run–especially when it comes to essential oils. Quality here really does make a difference!

Synthetics

Laboratory-created oils are created through careful chemical analysis and blending of synthetic compounds to replicate the same natural effect that natural oils produce. Experienced handlers of true, genuine oils may be able to tell the difference between them, but other synthetic fragrances can be made very competently that it is impossible to differentiate without scientific examination. Synthetic fragrances may in fact smell even better than the natural ones, as they are blended with precision...

Nature Identical

Some oils are so expensive that few would buy them, so the chemical analysts combine the chemical components from a variety of plants to produce an identical oil which has not come from the plant named on the label. That is perfectly acceptable if it is labelled as such, sadly many companies forget to do this which at best is misleading and worse……

Substitutions

There are several oils that are expensive but have similarly fragranced oils that are much cheaper. Let me give you two examples the orange tree gives us three oils Orange from the fruit, Petitgrain from the leaves and twigs and Neroli from the flowers. The tiny flowers produce far less oil than the leaves and twigs so Neroli is several times the price of Petitgrain, but they have a similar aroma, you would certainly be able to tell the Neroli if they were side by side but how often does that happen so sadly, I have seen Petitgrain sold as Neroli light, the eye sees the word Neroli and is sold.

The second example is Sandalwood, an oil that has struggled in the past years. When I started buying oils it came exclusively from Mysore in India was stunning (and modestly priced). The Indian government was concerned that Sandalwood trees were being chopped down indiscriminately and put a quota on how many trees could be felled to preserve them for future generations and the oil dried up. In steps the substitutions and in this case, it is an oil called Amyris the nick name for it locally is West Indian Sandalwood the colour, viscosity and aroma are all very similar to true Sandalwood, but it is of a completely different genus Amyris balsamifera and is not a substitution for Santalum Album. Moral of this is read the label and take note of the Latin name, and if it is not stated – beware.

Folding

There are many oils that go through the distilling process more than once. Let’s take Ylang Ylang as an example, the oil is obtained from the blossoms of a small tropical tree that has varieties producing different colour blossoms, pink, mauve and yellow the yellow giving the more superior oil. The flowers are put through the distilling process and the oil is drawn off, this is known as the top grade, the process is repeated to produce more oil that is known as grade 2 and once more to draw off the last drops of oil, grade 3. The therapeutic features of all 3 grades are similar but the perfume is more refined. That brings us to the next method of adulteration where some oil from a lower grade is folded with a higher one to increase the volume of the more expensive oil.

Bulking

Every essential oil contains many different chemicals and are well documented. With a bulked oil it has gone through the distilling process and has had chemicals (that are found in the natural oil) added at the end process so that 1 kilo of pure essential oil becomes 2 kilos, for example, thereby increasing the profit gained from that product. Because they are adding a chemical that is already in that oil it can still be called pure.

I hope I have given you some insight into the darker side of the industry. So if you go out to buy an oil at your local chemist and see one oil sitting next to a much cheaper version ask yourself why is one much cheaper than the other, the answer may be on this page.