The measurement of odours

Abstract

The measurement of odours has been subject of many years of research in the flavour and fragrance industry. Still today it is a challenge to select the appropriate measurement technique to characterise odour performance which, beside the hedonistic qualities, is a key success criterion. Physicochemical parameters have been used for many years to obtain guidelines for improving fragrance performance but headspace measurements combined with olfactometry data are still among the most powerful methods which successfully help to extract additional information by linking detected signals obtained from an instrument with the sensory perception of a human nose.