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acetic acid ethyl ester

fruity ester Key food odorant

Found in 4 ingredients across the CompKitchen flavor graph.

Look up another compound — search by name, CAS number, PubChem CID, or FEMA #.

Key food odorant (individualist)

Dunkel et al. 2014

Identified in the meta-analysis of 227 food samples as one of 151 individualist odorants — appears in <5% of foods, carries the diagnostic signature of specific ingredients.

Source: Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 7124–7143

Properties

Odor description
floral
Odor threshold — orthonasal, in clean water
2502 ppb – 6350 ppb median 4426 ppb · 2 published values · see all 25 with sources
CAS number
141-78-6
Retention index
890
Not in FEMA GRAS publications 1-33. Of 3,367 listed flavoring substances, none match this compound name. May still be food-safe under other regulatory routes (FDA 21 CFR 172, EFSA, JECFA) — check femaflavor.org for the authoritative current list.

Published thresholds

25 measured values from the literature. Grouped by what was actually measured — a threshold smelled in clean water, tasted in the mouth, or measured in a real food are three different quantities and are not pooled.

Orthonasal, in clean water

2502 ppb – 6350 ppb

The reference measurement — smelled in water. OAV is computed against this.

Threshold Matrix Source Paper
2502 ppb water_odor Leffingwell —
6350 ppb SIDA water Rychlik 1998 · 4 studies —

In a food matrix

0.100 ppb – 141 ppb

Measured in a real food, where the matrix shifts detection — not a clean-water value.

Threshold Matrix Source Paper
0.030 ppb water (food: lime) Literature corpus 30972045
Flagged: 198× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden.
0.048 ppb water (food: tea) Literature corpus 31861730, 37188725, 41551788
Flagged: 124× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden.
0.100 ppb water (food: beer) Literature corpus 38531860
0.170 ppb SIDA water (food: banana) Literature corpus 18570373, 17898464, 19282638 +36
0.580 ppb SIDA water (food: melon) Literature corpus 18570373, 17898464, 19282638 +36
0.900 ppb water (food: chocolate) Literature corpus 17898464
4.0 ppb water (food: rice) Literature corpus 26973621, 38846797, 40467248 +1
4.2 ppb water (food: orange) Literature corpus 37515910
5.0 ppb water (food: sesame) Literature corpus 38583980
5.0 ppb SIDA water (food: apple) Literature corpus 18570373, 17898464, 19282638 +36
6.9 ppb water (food: onion) Literature corpus 28481316
10.3 ppb water (food: beef) Literature corpus 40820009
13.0 ppb SIDA water (food: bread) Literature corpus 18570373, 17898464, 19282638 +36
16.8 ppb water (food: fish) Literature corpus 36950329
31.5 ppb water (food: wine) Literature corpus 25939071, 36496598
39.0 ppb SIDA water (food: unknown) Literature corpus 18570373, 19282638, 19753606 +15
139 ppb water (food: peach) Literature corpus 37476402
141 ppb SIDA water (food: peanut) Literature corpus 18570373, 17898464, 19282638 +36
892 ppb SIDA water (food: olive oil) Literature corpus 18570373, 28671107, 40647095
Flagged: 150× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden.
13500 ppb SIDA water (food: reference standard (water)) Literature corpus 18570373, 17898464, 19282638 +36
Flagged: 2269× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden.

Retronasal / in-mouth

4800 ppb – 6600 ppb

Tasted rather than smelled — a different sense, not comparable.

Threshold Matrix Source Paper
4800 ppb water_flavor Leffingwell —
6600 ppb SIDA water_retronasal Rychlik 1998 · 3 studies —

In air

870 ppb

Airborne detection — not comparable to a water threshold.

Threshold Matrix Source Paper
870 ppb SIDA air Nagata 2003 18570373

Only values we can attribute are listed. Where a compendium's licence does not permit public attribution its figures are omitted here, so every number on this page traces to a citable source.

Found in

Measured impact first, then profile share

Every ingredient known to contain acetic acid ethyl ester. Ingredients with a measured concentration come first, ranked by odour activity; the rest follow by how large a share of that ingredient's profile this molecule is. The figure beside each is how many different compounds that ingredient has in total — not the concentration of acetic acid ethyl ester in it.

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