Parameters determining odor and taste

Whether or not a certain substance in a given application leads to a perceptible quality change and with it a violation of food regulations depends on numerous parameters. Therefore, no generally valid limit value can be assigned to a substance in comparison to toxicologically relevant substances. 

The influence of a sensory active component from the packaging on the product is largely determined by the following parameters (Granzer et al. 1986)  

Knowledge of these parameters makes it possible for a case by case determination of the limits for avoiding a reduction in quality. The lowest concentration of a substance in air sufficient to give a perceptible odor is defined a the absolute threshold level and is designated OTa in the following (see Table 13-3). 

The possibility of separating contaminants from the main odor active substance using GC eliminates the largest source of error in these measurements. However, several requirements must be fulfilled to obtain reproducible investigations. The values listed in Table 13-3 are averages of several measurements and published values. 

The KG/F values in aqueous systems for the solvents listed in Table 13-5 can be used as approximate values for other solvents with similar structures. The aromatic hydrocarbon, toluene, is in this respect an exception where its partition coefficient in the air/water system has a value of KG/F = 0.5. 

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