Essential oils are the aromatic and volatile constituent of plants. They contain various organic substances (alcohol, ketones, acids, esters, ethers, terpens, etc) that are active and penetrating. Those oils are extracted through a distilling process from vegetable material of a single species and botanic genres. Normally they have their organoleptic (odour and taste) characteristic and their name. Essential oils are the base ingredient of many industrial preparations used in cosmetics and aromatherapy.

The chemical analysis on essential oils available on Foodlab are:

PEROXIDES

The value of peroxides is an indicator of the state of the oil primary oxidation and also of its tendency to become rancid. In fact unsaturated fat acids react with oxygen and generate peroxides. These determine a series of reactions that generate volatile substances with the characteristic smell of rancid. These reactions are accelerated by high temperature and by light and oxygen exposure. Lower is the value of peroxides higher is the state of conservation of the oil.

The determination of the peroxides value in essential oils is very important for industries of cosmetics or fragrances and perfumes companies to determine the state of conservation of the product and its shelf life.

A high level of peroxides brings as a consequence a high skin irritation coefficient and therefore many fragrances and essential oils has to have a peroxides value lower than a certain limit, fixed by international organizations that determines the rules to be followed to use those substances (e.g.: IFRA, International Fragrances Association - www.ifraorg.org).
For example for substances containing limonene, as orange and lemon essential oils, the value of peroxides has to be lower than 20 mMO2/L.

For other oils like turpentine oil (containing terpenes) the value has to be lower than 10 mMO2/L. Foodlab system (www.foodlab.cdr-mediared.it) produced by CDR (www.cdr-mediared.it) can measure in a few minutes the concentration of peroxides in olive oil using a micro quantity of sample. The sample can be used as it is.

Foodlab system is made of a portable system and dedicated reagents developed by CDR research laboratories. Reagents are prepared in pre-dispensed non-returnable cuvettes. Reagents do not need any preparation and the system does not need specialized personnel.

Each test is done dispensing a minimum quantity of the sample in the cuvette, which already contains the buffer. Then a specific reagent will activate a colorimetric reaction.

The reagents are made of low toxicity substances and so it is very easy to manage the waste and it is possible to execute the test in every environment.