Not all essential oils are created equal and with little or no regulation governing quality control standards, you need to be sure you are buying a quality product. As a lavender oil exporter, NZLavender prides itself on producing high quality oil in commercial volumes.
In recent years linalool and more importantly the peroxides produced after its oxidisation, have been found to cause contact allergy and sensitisation. Linalool is now included in the EU Allergen List. NZLavender selected the New Zealand cultivar “Avice Hill” because of its characteristically low linalool levels. In addition, with careful distillation and controlled storage of our oil any oxidisation of linalool has also been kept to an absolute minimum.
Dr Noel Porter of the New Zealand Institute of Crop and Food Research tested the oil from the January 2007 harvest and his gas chromatography results and comments are as follows:-
“The composition of the oil is very representative for this cultivar. There are some positive points worthy of note. Your linalyl acetate and total ester levels are the highest seen so far and the linalool level is amongst the lowest. This confirms that the attention you have paid to the detail in getting your harvest and distillation procedures correct has paid off and given you an excellent result. It is especially good to see the performance has been maintained across all of your production batches for the season. The 3-octanone levels are also the highest seen so far and the camphor is commendably low.”
Dr N.G. Porter
