With the rise in popularity of essential oils as health remedies, cleaning agents, and food flavorings in the last three decades, adulteration of these precious liquids is unfortunately now a common occurrence. These practices are more common and insidious than you think. Sadly, most people do NOT have a clue. They’re out there buying based on price. Or on fancy marketing. Or on outright lies. Don’t be duped!

This article is an overview of some of the ways essential oils can be adulterated and how to avoid these kinds of essential oils. Some of these practices are VERY dangerous and probably cause most of the toxicities and sensitizations of essential oils being sold on the market today.

Want my own list of trusted companies that I personally purchase from for myself, family, animals, and clients? You can find it here…just scroll down the page for the list in the essential oils section.

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Sourcing Quality Essential Oils

The longer I’ve been trained in aromatherapy the more and more I’m seeing some egregious practices happening in the world of essential oils. It’s becoming more and more difficult to source quality essential oils due to the “noise” and marketing hype from many companies now.

Adulteration of essential oils has been on the rise for many years and in my opinion is becoming downright dangerous. Adulteration will change and reduce its therapeutic properties and benefits and could lead to adverse reactions, even death in extreme cases.

Unfortunately, and especially for the beginner or layman, identifying and discerning adulterated essential oils is difficult. This is why choosing reputable companies is so important, and to know these, you must ask an expert who they purchase from, and this in fact, is what I do and how I’ve vetted some truly excellent companies.

What is a pure and unadulterated essential oil?

“A genuine essential oil means it is completely unaltered and authentic and it is from a specified plant only.” (Schnaubelt)

One current practice that’s emerged in the last 10 to 15 years is so-called essential oils being purchased in massive quantities by bulk distributors. These essential oils aren’t from one country or farm…they’re from all over the globe and then dumped together. These are often then sold to businesses under private labels who then turn around and sell these to consumers. Often they are low-priced, absolutely low quality, and most likely adulterated with synthetics.

In fact, one time I came across “vanilla essential oil” in a tea shop (yes, a tea shop). There is no such thing as vanilla essential oil. It doesn’t exist as it’s not one of the plants that contains essential oil. You can find vanilla oleoresin or absolute, but you will not find vanilla essential oil. I shared this with the owner, who then took that “essential oil” off her shop, but still kept the rest of the ones she was selling under her third party label. This is happening ALL the time. Beware of companies selling under their small business brand, even if they are otherwise trustworthy.

Anyone can sell dangerous, probably adulterated, definitely poor quality essential oils these days, even nice people who don’t know any better. Buyer beware! Read on to better your essential oil quality discernment skills!

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How can you be sure you’ve got a pure and unadulterated essential oil?

Once you begin working with high quality essential oils, the poor quality ones usually become evident. In other words, your nose “knows.” Smelling pure quality essential oils is usually pleasant, doesn’t make you feel ill, give you a headache, cause skin rashes (unless misused) or have other negative reactions. You also should “sense” a feeling of well-being. This is because the tiny molecular structure of essential oil molecules mirror those of our own body, meaning that your body recognizes it as a good thing (or at least not harmful), accepts it, and can filter it out appropriately, unlike with synthetic or lab-created molecules. (Pressimone)

Adulterated essential oils just don’t have the quality that pure, well-sourced essential oils have. Your body often will have a sense of “rejection” if you’re paying attention. You may sense a fake chemical overtone. It’s true that your mood may feel a little better smelling a synthetic fragrance, but you will not notice any therapeutic benefits at all including increasing the oxygen uptake at the cellular level. Synthetics will not support the immune system or any other system in the body. (Pressimone)

The fact of the matter is that in the current market place of sales, subscription boxes, and discounts on essential oils, high quality 100% pure, unadulterated essential oils just cost more to the consumer. BUT in the long run, they’ll cost you less because you won’t use much, and they’ll actually work.

Allergies are another indicator that you may be dealing with a synthetic product. Since pure, unadulterated essential oils don’t have a protein structure of any kind, most people just won’t have an allergic response. (Pressimone)

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Types of Adulteration Methods of Essential Oils:

Here is a list of just a few of the ways essential oils may be adulterated:

Adulteration with Alcohol: Alcohol may be added to increase the volume.
Adulteration with Lipid Oils or Other: Vegetable oil may be added to increase the volume—-often a light oil such as FCO (Fractionated coconut oil) These additions may not show up in the ingredients list! (Shutes)
Adulteration: Synthetic Constituents Added for Volume: Synthetic chemicals may be added to enlarge the volume. For example, bergamot and lavender are often adulterated by adding the lab-created synthetic linalylacetate or synthetic linalool respectively. (Arctander) We can then assume that any essential oil that relies on these special chemical constituents for scent or therapeutic value may be adulterated. The chemical constituents would still show up in a GC/MS report—-making the testing method only useful for chemical components and not quality. (Shutes)
Cutting: A less expensive essential oil may be added to a more expensive one or distilled with it. This happens when there are chemical constituents in the less expensive plants that match the constituents in the more expensive plant. Unfortunately, this definitely changes the therapeutic value of the more expensive plant. For example, Melissa (lemon balm) essential oils may often be distilled with other less expensive essential oils containing citral (matching the scent profile somewhat) such as lemon verbena, lemon, lemongrass and others. This would increase the volume of the essential oil being sold as pure Melissa. (Arctander, Aromatherapist) The reason plants like Melissa are so expensive is that it only contains 0.01 % essential oil…a tiny amount—-therefore much more plant matter needs to be distilled.
Mislabeling “Natural.”: 100% synthetic products produced in laboratories being marketed as “natural.” An example is methyl salicylate, which can be created in a lab and for which both birch and wintergreen contain 95% and upwards of this constituent.
Substitution: A less expensive essential oil in the same genus may just be called by the name of the more expensive one. Example: Lavandin for lavender.(Aromatherapist)
Rectification: This is the removal of a constituent from an essential oil. This might be done to change the scent, or more likely to lengthen the shelf life of the essential oil, especially if longer storage may be a factor. The problem with rectification of an essential oil is that the natural therapeutic balance of the constituents is disturbed. The ‘whole’ essential oil is no longer whole. (Aromatherapist)

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Characteristics of Companies to Avoid:

Marketing based on lowest prices.
Companies selling their essential oils for roughly the same price or at unreasonably low prices.
“Precious” essential oils like rose, Melissa, jasmine, sandalwood and some others being sold in larger amounts such as 1/2 to 1 ounce sizes. The average cost of rose otto essential oil is around $200 for 10 ml right now. An ounce would cost well over $400 to $500. Precious essential oils are usually offered for sale in much smaller quantities such as by the drop or in 1 ml, 2 ml, and 5 ml amounts to retail consumers. (Shutes)
Companies who sell all kinds of products outside of aromatherapy (like herbal teas, tinctures, pet treats, etc.) and have mysteriously got their “own brand” of essential oils. There is a high likelihood that these essential oils may not even be essential oil and that they are at the very least adulterated with synthetic fragrances.
Companies where there isn’t a high level of aromatherapy education and no level 2 (professional or qualified) aromatherapist overseeing safety and quality.
Companies who can’t tell you where (exactly) they source their essential oils from or who won’t share this information.
Companies who don’t care about sustainability and healthy earth/people practices.

I have a vetted list of essential oil companies on my website at www.healingharvesthomestead.com. You can find it in the “Shopping Guide” under the “Explore” tab. I am NOT an affiliate for most of these companies, and I’ve included all the companies I’ve personally experienced that I can feel good about recommending. I’m continually searching for more to add for you, too. That doesn’t mean there aren’t others out there. Do your due diligence and buyer beware.

Other Factors that Affect Essential Oil Quality

Even among pure and unadulterated essential oils, we see a great deal of variability in quality and chemical structure…in fact, this is a good thing! Real plants can’t be standardized, and neither can essential oils.

Here are some factors that affect essential oil qualities and properties:

Ecological variables: Since many essential oils are grown all over the world, in different climates, different elevations, and both organically and some with use of pesticides/fertilizers, these growing factors do have an effect on the end product.
Time of harvest: Some plants can be harvested through multiple seasons, and this can cause differentiations in the end product (essential oil).
Genus and species differences: Some plants such as thyme, lavender, rosemary and many others may have multiple species in a genus OR have a higher than typical level of certain chemicals, called chemotypes. This can have an outcome on the end product. **The Lamiaceae family is well known for having a wide variety of chemotypes among genus and species.
The type and age of the leaf (or fruit in the case of citrus): The freshness of the leaves matter greatly for some plants. Peppermint is a great example. When distilling peppermint leaves, the yield and quality of the dried plant matter is actually better than using fresh plants! (Chalchat, Battaglia)

Why Does Quality of Essential Oil Matter?

Your loved ones.

Do you want them sick?

Allergic reactions—-these are common in adulterated essential oils. And these can happen immediately or take MONTHS or YEARS to present, once the body’s immune system and liver are exhausted.

Skin sensitizations, hormone disruption, and more.

Besides all of these potential dangers, they likely just won’t work, or won’t work nearly as well as a high quality essential oil from a trusted company. That’s right. They’re beautiful therapeutic value will either be destroyed or diminished.

Final Thoughts

If you’re going to bother purchasing essential oils for use as remedies, please, PLEASE purchase the best you can. Don’t be fooled by third party labels, by large companies who are mysteriously selling too cheaply (there’s a reason for the cheapness). Avoid buying from Big Box stores and even some health food stores.

I didn’t used to think much about the quality of essential oils, but since I’ve been working clinically with clients as well as creating our products for years, and am involved in some very high level aromatherapy organizations and schools, I’ve since realized it is VITAL we choose the best essential oils we can.

After all, we can SEE the medicinal herb. We can know that it is what it is supposed to be (unless it’s powdered or in capsules, etc.). But not with essential oils. We have a mysterious little bottle of liquid, and we must trust that the company has our best interests at heart. Don’t be duped.

Also, I am a non-brand advocate of essential oils. I don’t sell them. I’m not a pushy distributor. I’m a gatherer of trustworthy companies so you can feel safe in your choices.

You might be interested in obtaining an Aromatherapy Specialist certification! We’ve just opened the doors to our Beta program, and students are already working through the modules!

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Hugs, Health, and Herbs,

Heidi

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Adulteration of Essential Oils and the Quality Issue