n-hexadecanoic acid

dairy acid

Found in 7 ingredients across the CompKitchen flavor graph.

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

Properties

Odor threshold — orthonasal, in clean water: 10000 ppb 1 published value · see all 22 with sources
CAS number: 57-10-3
Retention index: 1962

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

22 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

10000 ppb

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

Threshold	Matrix	Source	Paper
10000 ppb	water_odor	Leffingwell	—

In a food matrix

0.450 ppb – 121 ppb

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

Threshold	Matrix	Source	Paper
0.450 ppb	water (food: onion)	Literature corpus	41174015
0.790 ppb	water (food: honey)	Literature corpus	17912357, 41306594
0.850 ppb	water (food: strawberry)	Literature corpus	17898464, 17912357, 19282638 +42
3.5 ppb	water (food: ginger)	Literature corpus	41193520
4.4 ppb	water (food: rum)	Literature corpus	17898464, 17912357, 19282638 +42
5.8 ppb	water (food: tea)	Literature corpus	34179519, 36323840, 39242718
7.5 ppb	water (food: mushroom)	Literature corpus	17898464, 17912357, 19282638 +42
8.0 ppb	water (food: chocolate)	Literature corpus	17898464
8.0 ppb	water (food: fish)	Literature corpus	17898464, 17912357, 19282638 +42
8.7 ppb	water (food: apple)	Literature corpus	17898464, 17912357, 19282638 +42
8.8 ppb	water (food: grape)	Literature corpus	39961895
12.7 ppb	water (food: unknown)	Literature corpus	19282638, 22391602, 23285821 +29
18.9 ppb	water (food: milk)	Literature corpus	21534545
23.9 ppb	water (food: pork)	Literature corpus	17898464, 17912357, 19282638 +42
32.2 ppb	water (food: baijiu)	Literature corpus	35513386
35.6 ppb	water (food: beer)	Literature corpus	17898464, 17912357, 19282638 +42
43.0 ppb	water (food: soy sauce)	Literature corpus	17898464, 17912357, 19282638 +42
121 ppb	water (food: mango)	Literature corpus	29211747
1963 ppb	water (food: beef)	Literature corpus	17898464, 17912357, 19282638 +42
Flagged: 222× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden.
1977 ppb	water (food: rice)	Literature corpus	17898464, 17912357, 19282638 +42
Flagged: 224× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden.
3520 ppb	water (food: peanut)	Literature corpus	39512543
Flagged: 399× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden.

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 n-hexadecanoic acid. 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 n-hexadecanoic acid in it.

235 cmpds

308 cmpds

448 cmpds

472 cmpds