”A true, unadulterated, pure essential oil as God intended is difficult to obtain, as even more growers and distillery operators are lured into the practice of adulteration because of the desire for money and power” – D. Gary Young | The World Leader in Essential Oils * pg Ix

Having experienced the gifts of Mother Nature, firsthand, while recovering for many years from a serious logging accident at age 24, D. Gary Young decided he wanted to share these remarkable oils with the world.  But he could not locate a reliable, sustainable source.  Having been raised on a farm, Gary knew he could grow the plants himself, but did not yet have the distillation equipment.  When using a third party distillery, he noticed that they did not distill the plants properly, at the correct time, temperature and pressure, to ensure plant constituents remained. He finally realized that if you want something done correctly, you have to do it yourself.

To distinguish himself from the other growers, distillers and bottlers of essential oils, he established a quality control system called “Seed to Seal” which become the foundation of Young Living.  It’s his promise, that from the time the seed is planted, until the seal is placed on the bottle, Young Living will only bottle pure therapeutic grade essential oils, and test them to ensure they have not lost all the precious constituents from the plant.  And if the essential oil does not meet their standards after extensive testing from both internal and third party testers, they will not bottle it.  Which is why Young Living Essential Oils will go out of stock at times.  😲  Yes, sometimes for 2 years.

Seed to Seal is a practice of using Premium seedlings (chosen from previous crops with outstanding yield) and planting them in Premium soil that has been or still contains all 52 minerals that will ensure strong healthy plants. The use of pesticides and fungicides is forbidden and much of the fields are hand weeded.

Once ripened, the plants are harvested, but not before they have reached the peak of ripeness which is when many important plant properties come about.  Once harvested, they are distilled right on the farm, so the plants do not have to travel long distances and lose their plant properties along the way, or be exposed to harsh weather conditions for many days on end.

Now here’s the important part.  Gary knew that the distilling process was very fragile, and it was important to distill the plants, flowers, shrubs, trees at the correct time, temperature, and pressure, in order to retain all the properties from the plant.  Dr Jim Bob Haggerton once mentioned that only 30% of what is grown and harvested, actually makes it into the bottle.  Who does that!?!? Well, Young Living does, because Gary’s goal was always to offer premium quality, therapeutic grade oils and he knew that if he did that, other people could experience the wonderful gifts of healing from these oils that God intended for us, and that he experienced for himself.

Not only are they distilled properly, but they also go through the entire process while only touching glass and stainless steel containers.  This also ensures that the properties of the oils are not lost or disturbed. Young Living does not accept any diluted, cut, or adulterated essential oils, and no chemicals are allowed to be used in the distillation process.

The final step is to test the oils using their proprietary testing equipment developed by D. Gary Young.  Young Living’s oils must be completely natural and unaltered from the single species distillation process. Therefore, Young Living tests incoming essential oils, with as many as nine different tests, before certifying them to be bottled.

The oils are tested for sspecific gravity, optical rotation, refractive index, FTIR, and polar and non polar column Gas Chromatography (CG).  If questions arise, then further testing may include, HPLC, CG/MS, chiral column CG, ICP—MS, and IRMS (Isotope ratio mass spectrometry).  This last test can detect nature-identical synthetic compounds. All these tests ensure that the oils meet Young Living’s Seed to Seal quality, in every batch. But why is this necessary if Young Living has their own farms, and controls the whole process?

Well, over the years, Young Living began collaborating with Partner Farms in order to acquire plants, trees, flowers grown in parts of the world where Young Living does not have a farm. In order to ensure that no chemicals were used, and no adulteration was done to the oils, Young Living requires these Partner Farms to adhere to their Seed to Seal quality, as well as, practice sustainable farming methods.  Young Living scientists visit these farms to test the soil, as well as the oils, to ensure the Young Living Standard is being met.

A certificate of Analysis is created for every lot of Essential Oils that Young Living receives. And after testing, they are ready to be bottled.

Before bottleing oils are first batched with a number, tested again, and then sent to the bottling process.  If ever there is a question about a particular oil,  it is easy to go to the batch number for more specific data, even to being traced back to the distillation from which it came.

Is all this worth the effort? Gary Young thought so, and spent years developing this method, because as Young Living grew, he simply could not be available to “sniff test” every batch of oils created!

Once bottled, off they go to eagerly awaiting members all over the world.

Young Living now has 18 farms, and Partner Farms, located all over the world, including France, Ecuador, Taiwan, Australia, Croatia, Canada, Oman, and the United States.

Perhaps now that you understand the work and effort that goes into these oils, you will understand why Young Living is the undisputed World Leader of Essential Oils!