Essential oils mostly are used in the industries like food flavoring, perfume etc. But, presently they're extensively utilized in aromatherapy and lots of healthcare sectors. There is an increasing demand for essential oils and plant extracts because of preference of customer on natural flavor than its synthetic counterpart.

A huge quantity of raw ingredients is required to extract absolutely pure, natural essential oil. It is really a difficult work process to extract natural essential oils in bulk quantities; hence most of the essential oil products in the market contain chemical substances also mixed with natural oils.

There are several essential oils are available in the markets that are diluted with commercial grade oils having lower quality. Some productions even use several foreign materials to save the production cost. But, an essential oil should be pure, natural and high in quality to provide the best Therapeutic value.

The grade of plants and its growing conditions also rely on the quality of extracted essential oil. Therefore , it is recommended to buy essential oils from reputed organizations. Reputed companies selling essential oils always analyze the grade of essential oil to maintain the quality of standard. It is very important factor to maintain strictly the quality level. Both gas chromatography and mass spectrometry are used to conduct the conventional quality testing of essential oil.

AOC certification is one way to judge the quality of an essential oil. AOC certification is not a common practice and it is conducted only to plants grown in quality control environment. Some places in the high-altitude of France are ideal places to conduct AOC. Besides, there are various quality products available without having AOC in the present market. So, AOC certification is not the only way to judge the quality of essential oil.

Synthetic essential oils are also popular in some areas. People buy them thinking them to be pure. But, it's not a reality. These synthetic oils do not have any therapeutic use and some of them may be harmful and toxic. Most synthetic oils are mixed with petroleum-based solvents and can be harmful to human health.

A blotting paper can help differentiate between pure and impure essential oil. After evaporation, pure essential oils will not leave any residue, but impure essential oil containing petroleum solvent will leave enough residue. One should not compromise in terms of money while getting a pure essential oil, as cheap impure essential oils cannot serve exactly the same purpose.