Aroma Distil

In Greece, agriculture, nutrition, health and cosmetics are some of the most active industrial sectors in the country. Thus, research on the conservation, sustainable exploitation and development of biodiversity to produce high value-added products from natural products must be a key development priority and a central axis in the country’s strategic research plans.

 

As a consequence, one of the main goals of all of us at VESSEL ESSENTIAL OILS is to increase the total cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAP) in our country. The cultivation of MAP in Greece is in a state of great development and the growing demand reveals the lack of certain infrastructure and coordination.  However, there is a great need for the appropriate identification of MAP raw material, but also quality control of the processed products. Until recently, the uncontrolled quality of herbal products had discouraged many consumers and patients from using them, but the growing emphasis on safety, efficacy and quality has intensified research and development on the sector, leading to a shift towards standardization of these products, as well as the demand for high quality raw materials.

For this reason, as a company that operates in the field of essential oils and treats its customers with responsibility and respect, we try to contribute in every way to improve and control the production and identification of our essential oils.  Therefore, in collaboration with the departments of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Biology of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, we participate in the operational program "Aroma Distil" of the action "RESEARCH-CREATE-INNOVATE", where the main goals are: the characterization and botanical identification of plant materials  with DNA-barcoding, the identification of species or varieties of aromatic plants and the study, characterization and standardization of our company's products, as, due to the biodiversity and chemodiversity that exists in nature, the extracts  of MAP can show significant differentiation. In addition, with our many years of experience and the developed scientific methods of our partners, our goal is to optimize the distillation and extraction parameters in order to improve our final products, investigate the possible utilization of MAP and their products as plant antioxidants and / or preservatives, as well as their biological action.

This project will enhance the development of high quality products and add value in the field of agricultural production, food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and agrochemicals, but will also contribute to the protection of our consumers’ health through the systematic controls and methods that will be applied. It will also promote interdisciplinary excellence (raw material, analysis and quality control, standardization, processing, applications, industrial production, etc.). The cooperation and synergy of the Vessel Essential Oils with experienced scientists, botanists, chemists, chemical engineers, pharmacists and foresters will be implemented by the collaborating bodies and will be a step in our products’ improvement.