Proper Labeling aand Storage Of Essential Oils

[Guest guest]

Hi y'all,

 

> I have a question about essential oils, if anyone can answer. I am

> working on a paper and need correct information. When a label

> says, " 100% Tea Tree Oil " , for example, I know the single species Tea

> Tree can be very low, and the remaining oil can be a filler oil. My

 

Not sure what you are referring to by " low " but a single species

botanical extraction is one of the basics of selling essential oils and

the yield of Tea Tree during distillation is not that low.

 

> question is, does anyone know the % of the species on the label that

> is required to still call it 100%? I appreciate anyone sharing their

> info on this, and please forgive me if you have recently covered this

> question. This is my first group I have every joined, so I am very

> new at this.

 

First .. there are legal and ethical concerns to be considered. From

strictly a legal point of view, there is no legal meaning for " pure " or

" 100% " this or that. A good example is the labeling you find on some

so-called 100% Pure Olive Oils. If you look at the FINE print on the

backside of the bottle rather than the BOLD print on the front .. you

might find out that there is more than olive oil in the bottle. The

backside MUST contain accurate information and when you read it, you

might find it says, " 100% Pure Olive Oil in a 90% Mix of Vegetable Oil. "

This is not false advertising - unfortunately - they are saying that the

10% Olive Oil contained therein is Pure Olive Oil, and they are telling

the wise or wary consumer than the other 90% of the contents is not

Olive Oil. So .. Caveat Emptor!

 

Taking an ethical point of view, pure essential oils mean oils from a

single botanical species that ARE NOT mixed with a carrier oil or not

adulterated in any manner. If one wants to fail in the business, just

violate this principle and it won't be long before they're found out.

 

Also .. be aware that all adulteration is not bad .. only adulteration

when it is not portrayed as such. Adulteration is simply the adding of

a less costly substance and though it's often done to increase volume

and profit .. which is unethical and illegal .. it's often done to make

the product more affordable and decrease the chances of misuse, which

can cause irritation or possibly sensitization. Just as putting sugar

in coffee could be considered as adulteration, putting 90% jojoba in 10%

Rose Otto could be IF the seller does not make the buyer aware that they

are purchasing 10% Rose Otto in Jojoba.

 

In cases such as that mentioned above, the label should clearly state

the botanical species, in this case Rosa damascena, as being in Jojoba.

Like .. 10% Rose Otto (Rosa damascena) in Jojoba. Of course, there are

many other things that should be contained on that label like:

 

1. Origin

2. Contact coordinates of the seller.

3. Safety instructions .. this is, in my opinion, a necessity if for no

other reason than CYA .. it's not perfect but it's an attempt to do the

right thing. I have a standard we use on our products. Safety data has

become a norm in the business and almost all sellers use it.

4. Lot Number or Batch Number. I use this because I coordinate this

number with the GC/MS for that oil and it makes it easier to control the

products. Sellers are starting to pick up on this. I'd like to see

them all doing this in time .. and I believe we will.

5. Production Date. This is far more important than " Best Used By " or

some other shelf life date because quite simply, an attempt to determine

shelf life on essential oils is useless at best and marketing hype at

worst .. it just CANNOT be done. Why? Because storage of the product

is the most important factor in determining shelf life and everyone is

not going to do what they should do, which is - keep it in dark bottles,

out of sight and out of the light, avoid continuous rapid temperature

change and minimize dead space in the bottle .. that is, keep oxygen out

of the bottle. There's three good ways to do that .. use smaller

bottles as you use up your EO, or drop glass beads into the bottle to

reduce the amount of dead space and finally, nitrogen flushing.

Nitrogen is heaver than oxygen and a squirt of it will displace the

oxygen in the bottle - those of us who keep large stocks of EOs

routinely use this process to avoid chemical degradation. You can find

bottles of nitrogen with built in squirt nozzles in most fine wine

stores as folks in the know use it when they don't finish a bottle of

gourmet wine.

 

Y'all keep smiling, Butch Owen