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I am looking for information concerning using the EC/AFNOR standards on essential oils. There is a company that used "the high standards as set by the EC/AFNOR and ISO".
I am looking for information concerning using the EC/AFNOR standards on essential oils. There is a company that used "the high standards as set by the EC/AFNOR and ISO".


Standards for essential oils are described in various monographs (standards) dependent on their application e.g. in the pharmaceutical, vetinary, food flavouring areas etc. etc. In addition general standards exist e.g. the ISO series of standards, and National standards like AFNOR's standards which are used in France.

There has been a great deal of talking-up about AFNOR standards eminating from certain essential oil-selling companies for commercial ends, but at the end of the day most of us adhere to ISO standards since these have an international status labelling, and these days everybody needs to export goods to easily accessible & well-recognised criteria. It is important to point out that no standards have ever been drawn up for aromatherapy essential oils, and some of the chemotypes of essential oils used in aromatherapy (and in some cases the actual oils themselves) are not covered by any published standards. Further just because an oil conforms to a given set of criteria in a standard, it doesn't mean to say its a good oil - it could perform very poorly in application for example, and no test in a monograph will indicate this..

One of the most important aspects about an essential oil therefore is its odour profile, and its performance in product or application. In my work I use chemical and physio-chemical analysis (hopefully) only to confirm what my nose tells me in the first place, and it is important to get to know the characteristic odour profile in, say, a good patchouli oil or a good ginger oil together with all its aspects, accords and resonances. I try and set out some specific guidelines in an account of a lecture on training your nose, and give the odour aspects of the profiles of a few oils at www.users.globalnet.co.uk~nodice/new/magazine/odprofile.htm which you might find helpful.

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