Millions around the world have discovered the benefits of pure essential oils, derived naturally from plants. We’re committed to establishing and maintaining the ultimate, industry-leading standard in essential oil products. For us, the non-negotiable benchmarks for delivering a product that our customers can feel great about are multifaceted and exacting. We’re proud to offer an extensive line of essential oils and essential oil-infused, plant-based products that represent the best of nature—through the standards of our Seed to Seal program.
Young Living embraces a rigorous quality control standard to help ensure our products meet strict specifications. Seed to Seal is our set of standards that helps ensure that with every pure essential oil and Young Living product your family uses, you’re enjoying the benefits of our global resources, industry leadership, and over two decades of innovation. The result? A pristine final product that you know has been created with conscientious Sourcing, Science, and Standards—the three pillars of Seed to Seal.
As the leader of the essential oils movement, Young Living is paving the way for every other essential oil company to improve processes that protect our planet and ensure the highest quality standards.
Not all essential oils are created equally. Young Living will never knowingly compromise by adding synthetics, contaminants, or cheap fillers, or by using unethical production practices. Young Living Chief Supply Officer Lauren Walker guides the process of sourcing products from carefully vetted corporate-owned farms, partner farms, and Seed to Seal-certified suppliers and testing them extensively. If our exhaustive tests show that a product doesn’t meet our standards, we don’t buy it, or we reject the batch.
The Young Living Essential Oils Sourcing Standard helps ensure a high level of quality and authenticity of essential oils while encouraging responsible practices of production and processing at all stages in the supply chain. Young Living Essential Oils, is working with SCS Global Services (SCS) – a global expert in environmental and sustainability certification, standards development, responsible sourcing, and business solutions – on the details of the development and implementation of the Young Living Essential Oils Sourcing Standard.
Supply Chain: The Young Living Essential Oils Sourcing Standard applies to all stages of the Young Living essential oil supply chain, including farms, wildcrafting operations, processing facilities (e.g., distilleries), as well as Young Living-owned facilities. It applies to Young Living corporate-owned farms, partner farms, and Seed to Seal-certified suppliers.
Sourcing Standard Details: Young Living and all of our partners must meet the highest standards in:
• Authentication
• Agricultural Practices
• Harvesting & Collection
• Extraction & Distillation Practices
• Testing
• Traceability
• Storage & Bottling
Science is the cornerstone of what we do at Young Living. Our trained scientific staff employs cutting-edge methods to develop new products, as well as to help ensure the quality of all of our products. Both our R&D and Quality teams, led by Chief Science Officer Dr. Michael Buch, work in state-of-the-art labs with some of the most advanced scientific equipment available.
Stringent, Unyielding Quality
Quality starts at the farm and is proven in our labs. Through our stringent, unyielding quality benchmarks, we are able to identify the most pure, genuine, and effective ingredients. Our quality control team uses a battery of physical, chemical, and microbiological scientific tests to measure the exact components and properties of our essential oils. Each test is repeated numerous times during the quality process. Testing begins at our farms and continues all the way through the final stages prior to shipment to our customers. While our labs can conduct all of these tests, we routinely use our third-party labs to supplement our internal testing. Each of these labs have highly skilled and trained scientists.
Our team of highly trained, highly skilled scientists perform state-of-the-art tests, including but not limited to:
- Densitometry
- Viscometry
- Refractometry
- Polarimetry
- Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS)
- Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES)
- Gas Chromatography (GC)
- High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)
- Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy
- Automated Micro-Enumeration
- Disintegration
- pH
- Microscopy
- Combustibility
- Flash Point
- Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GCMS)
- Chiral Chromatography
- Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS)
Part of our stewardship is to do business responsibly—from sustainably sourcing plants, to uplifting local communities, and to complying with environmental and other laws. Chief Legal & Compliance Officer, Matthew French, oversees the Global Compliance Program, helping to ensure that Young Living offers pure product that you can feel confident is contributing to the greater good.
Lacey Act Compliance Program
Not only is our Lacey Act Compliance Program comprehensive, it is also the first in the essential oils industry that has been reviewed and accepted by the government. It is the gold standard for compliance programs, and we are proud to have gone above and beyond any of our competitors to establish it. We are engaging top legal experts around the world to keep us advised of the most current laws, as well as to inform us how to appropriately apply them to our most important business needs.
Our team has been working collaboratively with our corporate-owned farms, partner farms, Seed to Seal-certified suppliers, and the government for more than a year to develop this new program. We also continually work with environmental experts around the world to keep us advised on the protection of delicate landscapes, and plants. The Lacey Act Compliance Program consists of five general steps that when followed will help ensure that our essential oil products and partners comply with all laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we do business. These five steps are: supplier education, supplier evaluation, supplier certification, risk assessment, and auditing/monitoring. This gold standard program sets the precedent for the industry and demonstrates Young Living’s commitment to lead the essential oils movement by protecting delicate landscapes and plants.
