Odor Standards in Squeeze-Bottle Kits for Matching Quality and Intensity

A valuable adjunct to flavor profile analysis, wastewater odor evaluation, and ambient air quality surveying is an array of reference odor standards for side-by-side comparisons with the unknown samples. Sets of convenient, nonspill squeeze-bottle standards have been developed for these purposes. Many of the required odor chemicals are stable in character up to six months in mineral-oil dilution and can provide hundreds of sniff-tests without significant loss of intensity. The author recently proposed a generalized “decismel scale” for describing odor threshold and odor level (by analogy with the decibel scale for sound). Prototype kits are suggested that demonstrate an odor intensity scale and a tentative selection of odor qualities.