High Resolution Gas Chromatography for Detection of Adulterations of Citrus Cold-Pressed Essential Oils

Italy is one of the leading countries in the production of citrus oils. The olfactory characteristics of Italian cold-pressed oils are extremely good and, even if sometimes the products are more expensive than those produced in other countries, there is a demand for these oils because of their quality.

However, sometimes the market competition, together with a limited interest of the people who buy the oils with regard to the quality of the products, induces the producers to adulterate the oils with products of low value. It is our belief that Italian oils will only have a special place in the world market as long as their quafity and genuineness can be guaranteed. Mainly there are two types of adulterations for cold-pressed citrus essential oils.

One is the rough addition of some naturaf and/or synthetic products of low value. In such cases the aim is not to try to get a composition of the oil exactly similar to a genuine one, but what is important is “passing certain examinations” like percentage of residue, density, optical rotation, citral content, ester number, UV absorbance, etc.

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