What ails Indian fragrance industry?

By Ranjit Monga

 

New Delhi: While international standards are based on synthetics and aroma chemicals, in India, its biodiversity offers a lot of natural and forest products also. Hence, there are about 10 per cent India specific plants on which research needs to be done so as to formulate new standards accordingly and promote exports. Apart from this,  the 90 percent of the standards existing in other countries can be adapted to India. 

Rose cultivation in Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh

As of today, one of the impediments to the growth of the Indian fragrance and flavour industry is the lack of standards. This was recently also pointed out by Rishabh C. Kothari, president of Fragrances and Flavours Association of India (FAFAI) in a webinar which FAFAI had jointly organised with the Fragrance and Flavour Development Centre (FFDC), Kannauj on the topic ‘Atmanirbhar India with Indian Standards and Regulations for Fragrances and Flavours’, recently. The event was attended by directors of over 10 premier research institutions and over 100 entrepreneurs from across the country.

FAFAI is the apex body of manufacturers, traders and dealers of fragrances, flavours as well as their ingredients including aroma chemicals and natural essential oils.

Addressing the webinar, Union Minister for MSME Nitin Gadkari said that the government was keen to encourage the fragrance and flavour industry in India as it can provide a lot of employment in the rural areas. However, it may be mentioned that while India also accounts for 80 per cent of mint oil production in the world, what is still required is research and innovation to promote its production and export.

Gadkari expressed regret about the speed at which the Indian scientific and research bodies are able to produce tangible results and suggested that it might be prudent to also look at other international standards and examine how they could be wholly or partially accepted to make this process faster.

The minister remarked that completing this task will enable Indian industry to become more competitive in the global export market and also benchmark itself against the best in the world. Not only will this lead to a growth in exports but will contribute to the growth of the entire industry, he said.

However,  Yogesh Dubey, president of the Essential Oil Association of India [EOAI] cautioned that if irrational rules based on synthetics were implemented, then the entire Indian naturals industry where India has a competitive edge “would be wiped out”. The regulation must be sensitive to the aspect that natural products cannot be put at par with synthetic ingredients, he said.

“We want to strengthen flower production and will talk to the agricultural ministry to remove any problems the farmers may be facing so that exports can grow in this area,” Gadkari said. To this effect DK Singh, Additional Secretary and Development Commissioner, Union MSME Ministry, suggested that FFDC, Kannauj be made as the nodal agency for all these activities including compiling relevant data and reports on national and international regulation, a suggestion which was immediately agreed upon by industry representatives as well as directors of all the research organisations.

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First published in Globalbihari.com

https://globalbihari.com/what-ails-indian-fragrance-industry/

Multi-disciplinary approach needed to learn Aromatherapy

 

People from many diverse fields are drawn towards Aromatherapy. Among them are botanists, chemists, medical students, doctors, nursing assistants, herbalists, spiritual souls, yoga enthusiasts and many more. But can one pursue a particular educational stream to be able to better understand and qualify to enter the field of Aromatherapy. 

First, a word about Aromatherapy. It is the practice of holistic healing through use of essential oils, and specifically their aromas, extracted from flowers, plant roots, bark, leaves herbs, spices, etc. They help in altering one's mood leading to psychological and physical well-being. Aromatherapists, who specialize in the practice of aromatherapy, utilize blends of different essential oils that can be applied directly or through oil massage, steam inhalation or water immersion to stimulate a desired response.

Essential oils have anti-microbial, anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-spasmodic and many such properties, but there is still a lack of substantial clinical evidence demonstrating efficacy against bacterial, fungal, or viral infections.

Though nowhere in the world is Aromatherapy considered 'legal' in the sense as a healing or curing science, it is being increasingly used as a complimentary therapy. But despite that, there are no 'official' study courses which are recognised by any legal or government authority and allows one to practice. 

Instead what you have are private institutes which have grown in reputation over the years and which offer courses in Aromatherapy along with similar alternative therapies. This is particularly true of the United States and Europe, where it has got accepted as a complimentary therapy in hospitals. Many institutes in the US offer a certification in Aromatherapy for nursing staff.

In the eastern part of the world Aromatherapy has evolved more along with the spa and skincare industry. The spa industry uses essential oils for their emotional as well as healing aspects, while the skincare industry takes into account the cosmetic aspects of these wonder oils. For practitioners of these streams of Aromatherapy, studying skin types and skin care become important. A study of dermatology and essential oils would be helpful for this industry. Many renowned beauticians also offer courses in skin care related to the beauty industry. There are courses available in herbal beauty as well which deal with ayurvedic formulations which can be useful. Study of Ayurveda can also be undertaken to understand plants and their healing properties.

In India Aromatherapy is at a very nascent stage, though we are among the major essential oil producing countries.  Kannauj based Fragrance and Flavour Development Centre is the only government organisation which offers a 3-day workshop in 'Essential oils, Perfumery and Aromatherapy'. Besides, they have several courses in Aroma technology, and cultivation of aromatic crops. In addition, there are a handful of private institutes which offer a course in this field as well. 

Education needed for learning  Aromatherapy

But, which is the best subject to study in your school or college life to be able to do better learn  Aromatherapy. In my view, there is no straight answer for this question. It all depends on which aspect of Aromatherapy do you want to follow.  Is it the medical aspect? The psychological aspect? The cosmetic or the spiritual aspect? 

Laboratory at FFDC, Kannuaj

Learning science (Chemistry and/or biology) can prepare you well for the technical aspects of distillation and the numerous compounds found in the essential oils and their properties (which are used for alleviating the symptoms).

Best would be of course, if you have studied medicine, whether it is allopathy, homeopathy or traditional systems like Ayurveda, naturopathy etc. It also allows you to practice aromatherapy in a legitimate way by getting an additional qualification related to plants and their medicinal aspects.  Having a basic knowledge of psychology is also useful to understand emotions and track the wellbeing of persons.

Above all having a spiritual disposition works well to connect with the oils and impart healing to people. This is to me the fundamental aspect on which the oils work -- at the spiritual level, which is experienced through perception and insight. Smelling the aroma from an essential oil is an experience by itself. It is pure, deep and seems to carry the whispers of a thousand garden angels in them.

Followers of the spiritual aspect have linked Aromatherapy with different metaphysical systems by relating them to chakras, tarot cards, astrology, Vaastu among others. The essential oils impact our energy system which in turn impact our moods, health and wellness.  

 

Ends 

First published at https://globalbihari.com/aromatherapy-a-complimentary-therapy/

Career opportunities in Aroma industry

 

By Ranjit Monga

A lot can be said about the opportunities which are available today in the aroma Industry – a nearly 25 billion $ industry worldwide, of which India constitutes only 500 million as of now.

Having covered many industrial sectors as a business correspondent, film maker and writer,  it is easy to see  that this is one of the most comprehensive sectors, with a scope so wide, that it may not even be entirely visible.

First, it is an ancient industry, catering to such basic products of daily use, that it is never likely to die down.  

We live in a world of heady aromas
and fragrances
Pic courtesy: Tarai Creations
(Instagram Link)

As Shakti Vinay Shukla, the Director of Kannauj-based Fragrance and Flavour Development Centre (FFDC) explains “As soon as you wake up, you enter a world of aromas, every product you use in your daily life has a component of fragrance or flavour or both”.

Shukla was speaking at a webinar titled ‘Career Avenues in Aroma Industry -2020’ (CAAI-2020), organised by Association of Chemistry Teachers, Mumbai, India and Essential Oils Association of India, Noida recently.

Giving an example, Shukla says beauty products are used daily and will always remain popular. “Whether it is teenagers looking for skin or make up -products or older adults looking for anti-ageing formulations and hair dyes, there will always be end consumers.  This also makes it a sector with a lot of potential for career and business opportunities”, he says.

Recently we have seen a shift towards ‘natural’ products, be it in beauty, cosmetics, toiletries, spiritual products (agarbatti, dhoopbatti and havan samagri etc. ) or spices. Raw and unprocessed  are the new age mantras. This has added another dimension to the aroma industry as the demand for ‘organic’ products rises. This is accompanied by a boom in aromatherapy industry like spas, saloons and hotels offering these services. A rise in demand for liquid hand wash, sanitizers and cleanliness products which are fed raw material by the aroma industry has also opened opportunities, especially for small entrepreneurs.

India is a leading producer of mint oil, lemongrass, jasmine, tuberose absolutes and spice oils & oleoresins . While it is counted among the top three essential oil producing countries which include Brazil and Indonesia, there are still a lot of fragrant materials which remain unexploited.

Above: A view of the FFDC Campus, Kannauj.       
 Uttar Pradesh, India
Below: A rose farm in Kannauj

“Out of 110 cultivated natural fragrant raw materials, which cover 95 % of the global consumption, 52 are available in India”, Shukla explains adding that only 60 percent of them have been exploited while the rest 40  per cent will provide the  prospects for the future”.

Each material has an entire pipeline of products starting from farming the crop to distillation and extraction. Giving an example of rose, the queen of flowers and cultivated widely in and around Kannauj, he says ‘ If you use hydro distillation or any other method of extraction, each will give you a        different set of products and each feeding an    industry”. So, you can produce essential oil,    rose water, rose absolute, rose attar,                isolates, resins, oleoresins, and resinoids. 

The  de-oiled mass after extraction is used for agarbatti, dhoopbatti, face pack and as fuel. 

Some of the industries associated with these products are the fragrance and flavour industry, aromatherapy, beauty and cosmetics, pharmaceutical, wellness etc. The fragrance and flavour industry itself caters to toiletries, deodorant, sanitizers, food flavouring, grooming products, cleanliness products, soft drinks, ice cream, bakery products, agarbatti, havan samagri, among others, each of these have their own set of opportunities for trained personnel.

A view of the FFDC Lab  

But, as far as the training is concerned, the avenues are limited. FFDC, Kannauj (www.ffdcindia.org)  is the only organisation which provides training in different aspects like aromatic crop cultivation, distillation of essential oils, aroma technology, fragrance & flavour  making, its quality assessment etc. FFDC offers short term courses from 3 days to 3 weeks and also one year courses of NSQF ( National Skill Qualification Framework ) level 4 & 6, approved by NSDC, Govt of India after intermediate & graduation. Worldwide the top institutes are the ‘Grasse Institute of Perfumery’ and ‘Institutes  Superior International of Perfumes, Cosmetics and Aromatic Alimentaire’ (ISIPCA) both based in France. Others are in Bangkok, Singapore, Japan, UK etc.

 V J Vaze College of Art, Science & Commerce, Mumbai had tied up with  ISIPCA to offer a ‘Post Graduate Diploma in Perfumery and Cosmetics Management’  but now they offer it independently. ICT Mumbai also offers M. Tech ( Perfumes & Flavour) but with only five limited seats

According to Dr Jyoti Marwah, a doyen in the field of Aromatherapy, there are several avenues in what she refers to as  'bio-entrepreneurship' for youngsters. She advocates gaining knowledge of all aspects of fragrant material from land to lab to wellness. These include crop cultivation and being able to identify plant components and their effects, distillation and extraction, therapy and wellness, composing fragrances and designing products and consultancy for aroma tourism.   “When you know the components of molecules, how they will impact the human body and disease you can be a good therapist”. She says. She also advocates using essential oils along with knowledge of vaastu, astrology, massage therapy, reflexology, acupressure and sugandh upchar, which is mentioned in our ancient scriptures, as avenues for new entrants.

But, aromatherapy as such remains a grey area as lack of scientific research has ensured that there is no legal basis for practising this ancient therapy. What we have is a handful of institutes across the world which provide  private certifications, but which are not legally recognised. Similarly, there are a lot of other grey areas in this field.

And this refers to the lack of standardisation in the aroma industry. “We in India seem to have a higher body resistance, but its not like that in other populations. So when we sell our essential oils to other countries we should not fear that it will impact them in some way, therefore, the Industry needs to evolve standards which everyone can follow”, says Rohit Seth, President, Sugandh Vyapaar Sangh.  He recommends value addition and enhancing quality for expansion of the sector. “Ultimately we need to become a brand”, he says and adds that India can rule the world in this sector if new ideas and theories are propounded, and followed up with research and development to create innovative products.

 ends 

 

Aromatherapy in History

Pic: Ranjit Monga

Aromatherapy in history
By Ranjit Monga

Even though Aromatherapy seems to be a western import a detailed examination of similar practices in history reveals many points of origin, at least in concept.

It’s  modern history perhaps began in 1937 when the actual term ‘aromatherapy’ first originated.  French chemist Rene-Maurice Gattefosse invented the word after a burn incident when he hurriedly splashed some lavender oil on his burns. To his amazement the burn not only healed quickly but also did not leave behind any scar as he would have expected. This spurred his curiosity about the healing power of lavender and other essential oils.  Also, a french surgeon Jean Valnet is known to have used essential oils to help heal soldiers' wounds in World War II, proving the medical benefits of aromatherapy.

Also, let’s not forget that modern perfumery in a way originated in Europe in the 16^th and 17^th centuries. Eu de Cologne was perhaps the first modern perfume made by an Italian barber to evoke an ‘Italian spring morning, mountain daffodils and orange blossoms after the rain’, while working in Cologne, Germany. (Source: Wikipedia).

To my mind the elements Cologne perfume was made of have therapeutic value and thus an extended form of aromatherapy. Though perfumery branched off into a separate industry, perfumes as such perform loosely the same function of providing a feeling of well-being and happiness to the wearer. (The connection between perfumery & aromatherapy can be a topic for further discussion later) Aromatherapy connects specific aromas to specific feelings and emotions, thus taking the concept much deeper.

The healing power of plants and herbs has been known throughout history. So, we can best say that aromatherapy as it exists today evolved over the ages, when people used herbs and their extracts to cure disease, attract luck and ward off ‘evil’. Use of aromas and mysticism has also always been closely related.

The first distillation of plants is said to have been done by the Egyptians to extract oils from certain plants like cedarwood, cloven & cinnamon, which were used for embalming. The Chinese used infused aromatic oils as a mood enhancer.

Megallus, a Greek perfumer, developed a fragrance he called 'megaleion', which consisted of myrrh. The "father of medicine" Hippocrates is said to have practiced aromatherapy (before it was dubbed so) for healing purposes. Greek mythology claims the gods were gifted with the knowledge of perfume and fragrance. 

In Christianity, when Jesus was born, the three wise men arrived with their unique gifts for the baby. These three gifts had a spiritual meaning: gold as a symbol of kingship on earth, frankincense (an incense) as a symbol of deity, and myrrh (an embalming oil) as a symbol of death. Essential oils of both frankincense and myrrh are used extensively in Aromatherapy today. Their significance has been handed down the centuries.

Here on the Indian subcontinent the use of ‘aromatic’ material is part of our traditions. Attar, rose petals, marigold flowers, camphor, incense of various aromas – have been in use since time immemorial.

Making of Attar the traditional way at Kannauj, UP
Pic: Ranjit Monga

Sprinkling rose water on guests at a wedding or a party, showering of rose petals on a newly wedded couple is a part of our tradition. But did you know that rose aroma enhances love and compassion in its purest form. It impacts upon our heart chakra expanding it and removing negative blocks from this important energy centre of our body. That is why rose is perhaps a symbol of love. This is just one example. There are umpteen, each aroma we use as per our traditions has a specific therapeutic value.  This makes it clear that our ancestors knew about the aromatic and healing aspects of flowers.

Attar’s history is also known to have begun in western Europe’s Muslim held area in Spain in the 12 century. The creation of Attar or Itr was first done by ‘Ibn Sina’ of Persia, from knowledge passed down the generations from the Egyptians.  Attar was also used for healing purposes.

The Persians and the Mughals in medieval India promoted it’s manufacture and use. A special type of rose attar was formulated for the first time in the hammams of Mumtaz Mahal, wife of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and after whom the Taj Mahal is named.  There are countless material from which aroma was extracted and engineered into fragrances for the royal households. Here it is important to mention the book of recipes with a section on perfumes and attar creation, including for healing purposes in ‘The Sultan’s Book of Delights’ of the Sultans of Mandu also known as the Ni’matnama. Some of the material mentioned in these recipes for extracting attar, fragrance, aromatic oil etc are cinnamon, cloves, sandalwood, camphor, mud,flowers of rose, jasmine, champa, lily etc, besides peels of lemon, orange and numerous other aromatic material from the kitchen and the royal gardens.

A fragrance made from ingredients from the recipe book of Sultans of Mandu which I tried out.
Pic:Ranjit Monga

Besides these aromatic materials, there are numerous  ‘natural’ material which have other specific properties – water, oil, ghee, herbs and spices, which have been used for various conditions and ailments and physical and mental well-being in  ayurveda, naturopathy, unani, siddha, tibetan and other ancient medicinal systems.

So, all the aromatic traditions of the world taken together can loosely be described as aromatherapy. But, putting traditional healing aside, today the therapy aspects have evolved into a more specific framework matching property of the aroma to specific conditions of well being and wellness. Also the distillation and extraction essential oils have made its impact more potent. Today aromatherapy is practiced through application of essential oils. Also the healing aspects are being tried out in major medical institutions and being tested in laboratories the world over. And the tests are confirming the known results. The day is not far when this ancient practice will be once again followed extensively.  
ends

Indian Aroma journal

Indian Aroma Journal

 
A Journal is broadly described as a newspaper or magazine that deals with a particular subject or professional activity. It is also a daily record of news and events of a personal nature. And that is what we too want the ‘Indian Aroma Journal’ to be, a platform for information and news, as well as a personal record of our activities in this field. We hope to report latest scientific research in this field as well as reviews, events and opinions.

Aromatherapy is the practice of holistic healing and wellness through use of aromas of essential oils of flowers, herbs, spices, etc. They help in altering one's mood leading to psychological and physical well-being.

Aromatherapists, who specialize in the practice of aromatherapy, utilize blends of different essential oils that can be applied directly or through oil massage, steam inhalation or water immersion to stimulate a desired response.

A whole wellness product industry has grown around Aromatherapy principals spanning aromatic oils, soaps, cosmetics, burners, spas etc. We hope to be in touch with all of these aspects as well as write about new trends in aromatherapy, aromacology, perfumery & Itr creation, fragrance & flavour Industry, besides training and education in this field. 

Wish us luck!