Is "Therapeutic Grade" Real? What Oil Grades Actually Mean

No government agency, standards body or independent laboratory grades essential oils as "therapeutic grade." The phrase is a marketing term, and the "therapeutic" half of it is also the part that gets sellers into regulatory trouble. We do not use it for our amyris oil, and this page explains what it stands in for, what the standards that do exist actually measure, and what to ask for in its place.

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Who would have to grade an oil, and does not

Robert Tisserand, one of the best-known writers on essential oil safety, put it plainly in a 2010 post: "there is no independent, industry standard that is known as 'therapeutic grade.'" In the same post he wrote that terms such as pharmaceutical grade, therapeutic grade and food grade "have no meaning" for aromatherapy oil quality. Comments he added later are more specific. In 2012 he noted that the ISO standards "were not created with therapeutic properties in mind" and were meant for "just good quality oils," and in 2013 he explained that a food-grade oil is one approved as a flavoring, not as an internal medicine (Robert Tisserand, 2010 post with comments to 2014). Those are one author's statements, so here is the regulator's side.

The FDA says the law does not require cosmetics to have FDA approval before they go on the market, and that it has no regulations defining "natural" or "organic" for cosmetics (FDA, Aromatherapy, read October 2026). There is no federal grading ladder for aromatherapy oils for a phrase like "therapeutic grade" to be a rung on. Any seller can print it, which is why the printed phrase carries no information by itself.

Some companies use a trademarked version of the term attached to their own testing protocol. We are not naming any, and we have not audited any. The point is structural: a protocol written and checked by the seller is a company specification, and the useful question is whether anyone outside the company sets or verifies it.

Why "therapeutic" is the risky half

The FDA decides whether an aromatherapy product is a cosmetic or a drug mainly by how it is intended to be used, case by case, looking at claims in labeling and advertising. Products meant only to cleanse or make a person more attractive are cosmetics. The FDA's aromatherapy page lists claims that make a product a drug, including claims about relieving pain, easing depression or anxiety, and helping you sleep, and notes that these appear on soaps, lotions and massage oils marketed with essential oils (FDA, Aromatherapy). Its fragrance page adds that an "aromatherapy" product intended to prevent or address disease is a drug, and gives "easing muscle aches" as a labeling example (FDA, Fragrances in Cosmetics, content current as of 02/28/2022).

Reasoning from that intended-use test, a seller who prints "therapeutic" next to a product is supplying evidence about intended use. That is our inference, not an FDA statement about the word itself, and the FDA judges each case on its facts. It does explain our practice: our sourcing page states that no medicinal claim is made for amyris, and we describe the oil by origin, process and documents, not by effect. If you are a maker who sells products containing essential oil, the same logic applies to your own labels, and a regulatory adviser or attorney is the right person to review them.

What the phrase usually stands in for

When you meet a grade phrase, work out which of four things sits behind it, because only some can be checked.

  1. A company's internal specification. Ask for the specification, the test methods, and who audits them. If the answer is "we do," you have a seller's standard.
  2. Conformity with an ISO or AFNOR standard for that oil. These are real and oil-specific, and they give numbers. The standard for sandalwood oil (ISO 3518:2002) sets minimum levels of alpha-santalol and beta-santalol; a 2021 paper gives them as 41-54% and 16-24% (Kucharska et al., 2021). Ask which standard and which edition.
  3. A lab report for the lot. Useful, within limits described below.
  4. Nothing. The words are decoration.

The sandalwood paper shows how demanding a real standard is and how little a grade word could tell you. Kucharska and colleagues analysed six commercial oils sold as sandalwood and reported that none met the ISO range, especially for alpha-santalol. Only one was identified as genuine Santalum album, and its alpha-santalol of 37.1% was below the 41% minimum. Three were amyris-type oils, one of which was labelled as Santalum album but contained no santalols, and two were judged synthetic mixtures. A label phrase would have told you none of that; the analysis did.

Grade does not mean safe

Tisserand also pointed out in 2010 that "therapeutic grade" and non-toxic are not the same thing, since some essential oils naturally contain toxic constituents. The mechanism is easy to see with a common oil. Lavender oil's main components, linalool and linalyl acetate, oxidize in air to sensitizing hydroperoxides, and in a Gothenburg patch-test series, 2.8% of patients with suspected allergic contact dermatitis reacted to oxidized lavender oil (Hagvall & Bråred Christensson, Acta Dermato-Venereologica, 2016). A pure, correctly named oil that is old or badly stored can still sensitize. Freshness, dilution and patch testing govern skin safety, not a grade label.

The phrase is also sometimes used to suggest that an oil is fit to swallow. Nothing in the standards or the FDA material above supports that, and our ingestion guide covers why we say do not take essential oils internally. For a question about swallowing any oil, talk to a physician or pharmacist, or call poison control after an accidental ingestion.

What to ask for instead

Replace the word with documents and questions you can check:

Our position, and its limits

We sell one oil, pure undiluted Amyris balsamifera, steam distilled from aged heartwood, and we do not call it, or any amyris oil, therapeutic grade. What stands behind it is process and paperwork: a lot number and two dates on the bottle, independent third-party laboratory reports for each lot available on request, and a published Certificate of Analysis for one batch that records appearance, relative density, refractive index and optical rotation. That certificate is not a composition report, and we hold no third-party certification of any kind. If a document you need is not on that list, ask before buying, and if a decision depends on medical advice, ask a physician.

A grade word can only ever be a claim. A lot number, a method and a report are evidence, and the evidence is what to weigh when you compare one oil with another.

Amyris Essential Oil bottle

Amyris Essential Oil

Amyris Essential Oil from our own shop, in sizes from 0.5 oz to bulk.

From $20.99

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Sources & Further Reading