In the last decades, countless of articles have been published ensuring the importance of the natural products in Health, Food and Beauty. Essential Oils is a crucial icon in the natural products due to its therapeutic effects, flavoring and fragrance. For this regards, the demand of the essential oils increased over all the world. At the same time, not all of the markets are controlled, so adulterated oils have been introduced. Adulteration has many forms using synthetic or cheaper natural components. Hence, experts and researchers strive to find standards and methods to assess the quality of essential oils using different analytical techniques. Among these techniques, GC-MS is the most important and common technique used to assess the quality of the oils. However, Beta Analytic Laboratory has published a study proved that GC-MS is not enough to assess the quality of Garlic Oil, carbon-14 (C14) analysis using Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) has to be consulted. The final conclusion of the study is 75% of the studied samples are not completely natural, whereas all the samples have been passed in GC-MS test. https://www.nutraceuticalsworld.com/blog/blogs-and-guest-articles/2017-11-08/quality-assurance-testing-is-your-garlic-oil-natural/
In 2021, scientists at National Center for Natural Products Research published a dōTERRA-backed study, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S073170852100162X. The study presents new standards and methods to assess lavender essential oil quality and detect adulteration. Of the dozens of lavender samples analyzed in the study, two-thirds were found to be highly adulterated and of poor quality, meaning they were mislabeled, had fillers and additives, and/or contained compounds that were of synthetic origin. In 2022, dōTERRA signed an agreement with National Center for Natural Products Research - University of Mississippi focusing in establishing quality standards for essential oils. Also, further research is still needed to find rapid, available, easy to use and cheap methods for assessing the quality of the essential oils.
On the other hand, other option can be used to assess the quality of the essential oils. Traceability is a good tool to guarantee the product authenticity. Codex Alimentarius Commission defined traceability as “the ability to follow the movement of a food through specified stage(s) of production, processing and distribution”. Documentation of each step of the production from farm to factory give high credibility and enforce the relation between the consumer and the producer.
As an expert, I believe that the two options are important to assess the quality of the essential oils and we can integrate between them to ensure that the offered oil is 100% Pure and Natural.