A process of reducing the agricultural residue (AR) content of a citrus oil, comprising (a) vacuum batch-distilling an AR-containing cold-pressed citrus oil to give a low-AR distillate and a high-AR residue;(b) subjecting the high-AR residue from (a) to thin film evaporation to give a high-AR distillate and a low-AR residue;(c) subjecting the high-AR distillate from (b) to a further batch distillation to give a redistilled low-AR distillate and a waste high-AR redistilled residue; and(d) combining the distillate of (a), the residue of (b) and the redistilled distillate of (c) to give a low-AR citrus oil. The oil thus produced has not only a reduced content of ARs such as insecticides, fungicides, herbicides and miticides, but it also contains most or even all of the desirable citrus components substantially eliminated by conventional distillation processes.
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