ethylphenol
spicy phenol Key food odorantFound in 1 ingredient across the CompKitchen flavor graph.
“ethylphenol” does not identify one molecule. May be 2-, 3- or 4-ethylphenol. The distinction matters in fermented foods: 4-ethylphenol is the Brettanomyces marker, and the others are not.
We assign no CAS number, structure or odour threshold to this entry. Guessing one would make the record look more certain than the evidence is.
Look up another compound — search by name, CAS number, PubChem CID, or FEMA #.
Key food odorant (individualist)
Dunkel et al. 2014Identified 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. Characteristic odor: phenolic, smoky.
Properties
- Odor description
- must
- Odor threshold — in a food matrix
- 13.0 ppb – 390 ppb median 21.0 ppb · 3 published values · see all 7 with sources
- CAS number
- 123-07-9
FEMA GRAS — Generally Recognized As Safe for flavoring use
- FEMA number
- 4329
- GRAS publication
- GRAS 23
- FEMA primary name
- 2,4,6-Trimethylphenol
Reported use levels (ppm by food category)
Typical vs maximum reported addition levels in finished food. Use as a regulatory ceiling reference — verify against the current GRAS publication for your product category.
| Food category | Typical (ppm) | Maximum (ppm) |
|---|---|---|
| baked goods | 0.1 | 0.5 |
| beverages (alcoholic) | 1 | 5 |
| beverages (nonalcoholic) | 1 | 5 |
| cheese | 0.01 | 0.05 |
| condiments/ relishes | 0.01 | 0.05 |
| confectionery frostings | 1 | 5 |
| fish products | 0.01 | 0.05 |
| frozen dairy | 0.01 | 0.05 |
| fruit ices | 0.1 | 0.5 |
| gelatins/ puddings | 0.01 | 0.05 |
| gravies | 0.01 | 0.05 |
| imitation dairy | 0.01 | 0.05 |
| meat products | 0.01 | 0.05 |
| milk products | 0.01 | 0.05 |
| poultry | 0.01 | 0.05 |
| processed fruits | 0.01 | 0.05 |
| processed vegetables | 0.01 | 0.05 |
| seasonings/ flavors | 0.01 | 0.05 |
| snack foods | 0.01 | 0.05 |
| soups | 0.01 | 0.05 |
| sweet sauces | 0.01 | 0.05 |
Published thresholds
7 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.
In a food matrix
13.0 ppb – 390 ppbMeasured in a real food, where the matrix shifts detection — not a clean-water value.
| Threshold | Matrix | Source | Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13.0 ppb | water (food: reference standard (water)) | Literature corpus | — |
| 21.0 ppb | water (food: smoked cooked loin (pork)) | Literature corpus | — |
| 390 ppb | water (food: longjing green tea infusion) | Literature corpus | — |
Other matrix
17.0 ppb – 173 ppbMeasured in a non-aqueous medium (oil, starch, cellulose).
| Threshold | Matrix | Source | Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.021 ppb | unknown | PMC open access | — |
| Flagged: 4452× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden. | |||
| 17.0 ppb | wine matrix (12% ethanol) (food: rum / red wine) | Literature corpus | — |
| 170 ppb | ethanol/water (food: rum / red wine) | Literature corpus | — |
| 173 ppb | ethanol/water 40/60 (food: rum (aged)) | Literature corpus | — |
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 shareEvery ingredient known to contain ethylphenol. 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 ethylphenol in it.
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