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Organic Frankincense Oil : SNR

There’s a lot written about the condition of the frankincense market and there’s plenty we should all learn from the past but what happens when you take a clean slate, a business with ethical values and embraces all aspects of the supply chain in a transparent manner? The answer is you have Certified Organic Frankincense from Somaliland Natural Resources. 

We could write a book on the history, the challenges and the process involved to be able to offer  this incredible oil today (and maybe one day we will) but for now let’s state the facts and why we believe SNR’s Frankincense is the best supply option for your product and business.

The fundamentals of starting such a process is to understand today’s issues which all starts with the health of the Boswelli carterii tree, the harvesters and the communities involved. It’s about education for everyone, from the harvesters to the oil distillers and most importantly engaging everyone in the process.

Pictures: Peter Cobain (centre right) and Sultan Madar (centre left) of SNR with local harvesters

The structure of the group involves the joint ownership or the harvesting company which includes the UK resin processor and the Sultan of the Somaliland region of Saanag. The responsibility of this company is to oversee the ethical and sustainable harvesting areas, (by tree mapping and educating harvesters) and oversee community funds, all critical to the future of the trees, the local community and the industry. Understanding the Saanag region intimately SNR can avoid harvesting areas containing decane and also match particular areas to particular yielding resins with certain characteristics that maybe preferred from one client to another. The company holds ECOcert Organic Certification for the export of the resin which is supplied directly from the Saanag region to the processing site in the United Kingdom, cutting out any middle-men where often resin contamination can occur (for example you can get methyl eugenol or methyl chavicol in the oil if Serrata resin is mixed with the carterii).

The distillation of the oil is done under ISO9001-2015, Food Federation Organic and UK Soil Association Certification as well as being FDA and REACH registered with the end product being a pure and sustainable frankincense essential oil we can be proud to offer.

The vast lands of the Saanag Region with the Boswelli carterii tree growing wild and organically

Also important are the efforts being made to have a more efficient distillation process in the UK, to increase yields and lower production costs. The industry is full of adulterated oils, some are difficult to spot but SNR have a key objective to be able to offer a pure Boswelli carterii essential oil at the market prices others are offering adulterated versions, giving the consumer the best of both worlds. Of course this isn’t always easy to achieve but with the support of new clients we are sure we can get there.

15 Key Reasons to choose SNR as your Frankincense partner
  • SNR work directly with the harvesting communities to source our resins.
  • The owners visit regularly the communities in which they work – 3-5 times per year.
  • The resins are sourced ethically and sustainably.
  • SNR are currently working towards Fair For Life certification with ECO cert.
  • SNR are REACH Ready in the 10-100MT bracket for resin importation into the EU.
  • SNR are in discussions with SomRep (Somaliland Resilience Program) to clone Frankincense trees to preserve them for the future generations.
  • SNR aim to pre-invest in with the harvesting communities.
  • Each resin sack is inspected and individually labelled and will follow our Organic certification procedure (even if only conventional resin is required).
  • The distillery is certified organic (NOP/EOS) and the oils will also be “food grade” as certified by the Food Federation.
  • The distillation is conducted under ISO9001-2015 quality processing procedures.
  • There is no risk of cross contamination as we only deal with Frankincense and Myrrh resins (separate distillation units), other aromatics are steam distilled using different equipment. Also, organic and non-organic resins are shipped separately.
  • Our latest independent analysis reports do not indicate any presence of methyl eugenol or methyl chavicol which are associated with serrata resins/oils which SNR do not work with.
  • Some resin samples contain methyl decyl ether and some do not – maximum amount we have noted to date is 0.04%. (As we “discovered” Decane during our distillation processing some years ago we are very aware of it and fully understand the area where the newly identified species “Boswellia Occulta” comes from).
  • There is no indication of vegetable oils or any other form of adulteration of the oil.
  • SNR can identify areas of trees to harvest which yield particular parameters when it comes to the essential oil specification – using this mapping we can produce to any specification under a non-disclosure if needed.