Auroma's Seven Point Criteria for Quality of the Essential Oils

To meet the stringent demands of the professional aromatherapist, Auroma has determined the seven requirements that an essential oil needs to meet so it can be used with confidence.

l. BIOTYPE: Not only does an oil have to come from a defined botanical species but from a particular genetic strain. This is particularly important when selecting from the wide variation that occurs with wild growing plants, e.g. M. alternifolia.
2. CHEMOTYPE: The same botanical species can, often produce completely different constituents. These differences may be simple or dramatic. For example, Ocimum basilicum can exist in Linalool, Methyl Chavicol and Methyl Cinnamate forms as well as combinations.
3. GE0-TYPE: Often an oil from a particular area is of a superior quality although all other factors may be the same. The oil becomes known by the area it comes from. This may be due to the environment, the genetics or the particular distillation techniques. Examples are Rose oil Bulgarian or Sandalwood East Indian.
4. COMPLETE OR WHOLE: The oil should come from a single distillation and should not be rectified. A few examples may be permissible such as Bergamot Non-Phototoxic which has the Bergaptans removed by a purely non-chemical process.
5. WILD OR ORGANIC: Where possible, we always select the wild growing plants for distillation. For instance, Tea Tree is available from natural stands in the bush or from plantations. Whilst the plantations are designed to produce a standard oil, most use mechanical harvesters which pick up weeds. When wild types are not available, we commission farmers who don't use pesticides or chemical fertilisers.
6. EX STILL: We have been distilling small lots of expensive oils in-house and, with this experience, we have been able to advise farmers on distillation methods. We source direct from these distillers, not dealers or traders.
7. ANALYSIS: Oils are tested by us in Australia with the most advanced state-of-the-art equipment in the world. All other essential oil suppliers, in fact, source the majority of their oils from other companies and testing, if done, is done by others overseas. Even the most advanced laboratories use only Gas Chromatography. We take this a step even further by combining Mass Spectrometry, online computer searching and multi-dimensional GC.