The Importance of Testing Young Living Essential Oils

Creating authentic essential oils means ensuring that every step of the process is followed with precision and integrity. This is especially important when scientifically testing the oil’s purity and potency after distillation. Testing essential oils is important because it ensures every bottle captures the true energy of the plant.

When a new essential oil comes to the Young Living testing facility, it undergoes a rigorous set of tests. The tests can quickly determine if the oils have been subjected to dilution, cutting, or adulterated processes. Oils that exhibit even the slightest hint of possible adulteration or tampering are rejected.

Additionally, tests confirm that the optimal level of beneficial constituents is present in each batch. Any oils that do not meet established Seed to Seal Premium Standard levels are discarded—Young Living only seals and ships oils that meet both purity and potency standards.

Testing Standards

Young Living doesn’t only meet, but far surpasses quality standards generally accepted by our competitors. Frequently, organizations like The Association French Normalization Organization Regulation (AFNOR) and International Standards Organization (ISO) are cited by companies to assert oil quality. However, AFNOR and ISO only differentiate between lower-grade fragrance oils and essential oils—they do not measure actual oil purity or potency. Young Living essential oils fit in a higher category. The level of quality found in Young Living oils supersedes any known industry certification.

Young Living uses its own internal labs, in addition to third-party audits, to verify that Young Living purity and potency standards are met. Each batch of essential oil is sent through six rigorous tests and compared to established quality benchmarks:

• Gas Chromatograph—Measures the percentage of constituents (plant chemicals) in the oil.
• Mass Spectrometer—Identifies the names of each constituent in the oil.
• Refractive Index—Measures the density of the oil using a concentrated beam of light.
• Specific Gravity—Measures how heavy the oil is as compared to water.
• Flash Point—Ignites the oil and tests it against standard flash temperatures.
• Optical Rotation—Measures the molecular structure of the oil.

Once the tests are complete, the results are compared to the vast library of information Young Living has amassed over 20 years. This library of oil data is unmatched in the industry. With the recorded data, new oils can be compared to past samples, allowing for a consistent product. If the incoming oils do not meet the established profile, they are rejected and not allowed to be bottled as a Young Living product.

Reprinted from Seed to Seal, Issue 4, Vol. 1

SEED TO SEAL

PARTNERSHIP PRINCIPLES

Young Living believes that authenticity matters.

Essential oils are more than just what’s in the bottle. Quality starts at the source. Discover Young Living’s two-decade story of partnership with nature and industry leadership and see why our products set the standard for purity that you can smell and feel.

As part of your wellness journey, we invite you to discover how premium, authentic essential oils and essential oil-infused products are the core of who we are. We dedicate significant resources to providing the purest oils possible. Purity starts on the farm, and we proudly source our essential oils from corporate farms, partner farms and Seed to Seal-certified suppliers. These locations embrace our Partnership Principles program to help ensure the purity of our oils at every point in the supply chain. Young Living believes that authenticity matters. As part of your wellness journey, we invite you to discover how Seed to Seal Premium Standard essential oils are the core of who we are.

Step 1
ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIPS

Our Sourcing and Executive teams have been hand-selecting renowned suppliers of premium botanicals and building relationships with them for decades. We continue to foster and expand these relationships.

Step 2
SEED TO SEAL SPECIFICATIONS

All farms—whether a partner farm, Seed to Seal-certified supplier, or our very own corporate farms—sign declarations that they will seed, cultivate, and distill to our strict Seed to Seal specifications.

Step 3
BINDING AGREEMENTS

We back up these signed Seed to Seal declarations with legally binding contracts that require our partners to deliver on those declarations.

Step 4
STRINGENT TESTING

We have spent millions of dollars on a state-of-the-art lab with cutting-edge testing instruments, as well as a team of researchers with a combined 180 years of experience led by Chief Science Officer Dr. Mike Buch, a widely respected analytical scientist. If this team finds that a supplier’s oil doesn’t meet our demanding standards, it never reaches our warehouse. Each test is carefully recorded in our library of historical testing data, the largest of its kind in the world.

Step 5
ONGOING AUDITS

In addition to its testing, Young Living verifies the quality of our oils via audits of our supply chain members. Our intricate global sourcing network is designed to bring our members superior products, and we are proud to have implemented an objective audit process.

Why insist on these demanding, expensive practices? Because for Young Living, the big picture doesn’t have much to do with the bottom line. We’re driven to make the world a better place by sharing the benefits of Premium Standard essential oils. If we’re not bringing families authentic quality, we’re not bringing them authentic benefits. We’re proud of our legacy and remain as motivated as ever to continue expanding our message. Want to join the modern essential oils movement? Share this story on social media and help us get the word out about why and how Young Living insists on authenticity!