Overview
ISO 1342:2012 specifies quality characteristics for the essential oil of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) to facilitate assessment and comparability of commercial lots. This third edition defines sensory and physico‑chemical requirements, a normative chromatographic profile, sampling volume, test methods, and guidance on packaging and labelling for rosemary essential oil.
Key topics and technical requirements
The standard covers sensory, physical and analytical criteria used in quality control and specification:
- Appearance, colour and odour
- Clear mobile liquid; colourless to pale yellow or greenish yellow; aromatic, cineole‑like, more or less camphoraceous.
- Physical constants (at 20 °C)
- Relative density (d):
- Tunisian/Moroccan type: 0.907–0.920
- Spanish type: 0.892–0.910
- Refractive index: Tunisian/Moroccan 1.464–1.470; Spanish 1.464–1.472
- Optical rotation: Tunisian/Moroccan −2° to +5°; Spanish −6° to +8°
- Miscibility in ethanol
- Tunisian/Moroccan: clear solution with 1 vol oil in ≤2 volumes of 80% ethanol
- Spanish: clear solution with 1 vol oil in ≤3 volumes of 90% ethanol
- Acid value (max)
- Tunisian/Moroccan: 1.0; Spanish: 2.0
- Chromatographic profile (normative)
- Gas chromatography (per ISO 11024) is used to quantify characteristic components. Representative components and their percentage ranges include:
- alpha‑Pinene, Camphene, beta‑Pinene, Myrcene, Limonene, 1,8‑Cineole, p‑Cymene, Camphor, Linalool, Bornyl acetate, α‑Terpineol, Borneol, Verbenone (type‑dependent ranges)
- Flashpoint
- Informative mean value: +43 °C (Setaflash method noted)
- Sampling & tests
- Minimum test sample 50 ml; test methods reference ISO standards for density, refractive index, optical rotation, miscibility, acid value and GC profiling.
- Packaging, labelling and storage
Applications and users
ISO 1342:2012 is used by:
- Essential oil producers and distillers to define product types (Tunisian/Moroccan vs Spanish)
- QC laboratories performing gas chromatography and physico‑chemical testing
- Perfumery, cosmetics, aromatherapy and flavour manufacturers requiring specification compliance
- Traders, importers/exporters and regulatory bodies for product acceptance, transport safety and conformity assessment
Related standards
Normative references cited by ISO 1342 include:
Keywords: ISO 1342, essential oil of rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis, rosemary oil quality, gas chromatography, refractive index, relative density, flashpoint.