This week we’re going to hit on GC/MS reports and their importance. As some of our long term customers may have noticed, things change as far as our KidSafe classification is concerned. An oil may be classified as KidSafe for a while and then one day you may notice it no longer boasts the KidSafe logo. Or vice versa. An oil may not be KidSafe for a period of time, but all of a sudden may switch to being KidSafe. Why do you think this is?
Why Do You Need to Care About GC/MS?
That’s an easy one. It’s because the oil has changed. What? An oil can change? Yep, it’s true. They can change. And they do ALL THE TIME. That is one of the reasons we include GC/MS testing batch numbers on each of our bottles and why batch numbers are important. You may be asking “how does an oil change?”. It’s just nature.
As we all know, no one plant is the same. For those familiar with farming, no crop season is the same. Sometimes there is too much water, sometimes there isn’t enough water. Sometimes natural disasters happen and crops have to be completely regrown. Or sometimes the temperature is much lower, sometimes it’s higher. All of these things can affect plants and other crops. When the plant changes, so do the chemicals the plants produce.
GC/MS Reports in a Nutshell
What does that have to do with a GC/MS report? Simple. A GC/MS report is a chemical analysis of a substance and it lists all of the different chemical constituents that make up the chemical or substance, in our case essential oils. Each batch of essential oil goes through the GC/MS testing process.
If you go and look at the reports for different batches of oil, you’ll notice that the numbers change slightly, or sometimes drastically. No GC/MS report for different batches of the same oil should be exactly identical… ever. BECAUSE no crop season is going to be completely identical, it’s just nature. If you ever see an essential oil GC/MS report that is completely identical to a previous batch at any company… you should be alarmed because that just isn’t natural.
If you notice that they are slightly different or vary batch to batch, that’s a pretty good sign that you’re getting an unadulterated oil. There is no standardization of natural essential oils.
What Does All This Mean for You?
So what does that mean for KidSafe? It just means that while an oil may or may not be KidSafe at one moment, it may change depending on the crop. Where the crop was located. What the weather factors were like. And because of these changes, the chemical constituents and their levels have changed.
At Plant Therapy, we analyze and do GC/MS testing EVERY BATCH OF OIL we receive. We then make adjustments as necessary. It’s not that we’re trying to contradict ourselves, we just care about you and your family. If something changes and it’s no longer safe, we want you to know that, so we take off our KidSafe logo.
Never Just Assume an Oil Is Safe
It’s important to never assume that an oil is safe or not safe. Always look for the KidSafe logo on our Plant Therapy products. And if you ever just aren’t sure… ask! And in your spare time if you like a challenge or want to seriously learn more about essential oils ~ start studying the GC/MS reports and the chemical constituents that make up your oils. You’ll learn a lot, and you’ll start to have a greater appreciation for your oils. If you want to read more about GC/MS reports and how to read them, check out our blog post here.
Do you want more Pro-Tips like this one? Check out our Safe Essential Oil Recipes for more featured posts, recipes, and fun!
