pentenoic acid
Key food odorantFound in 2 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. 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.
Properties
- Odor description
- pungent, sour, cheesy
- Odor threshold — orthonasal, in clean water
- 40.0 ppb – 57.5 ppb median 48.8 ppb · 2 published values · see all 17 with sources
- CAS number
- 106-24-1
FEMA GRAS — Generally Recognized As Safe for flavoring use
- FEMA number
- 4193
- GRAS publication
- GRAS 22
- FEMA primary name
- 2-Pentenoic acid
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 | 10 | 50 |
| breakfast cereal | 5 | 25 |
| cheese | 3 | 15 |
| confectionery frostings | 10 | 50 |
| fats/oils | 2 | 10 |
| fish products | 2 | 10 |
| frozen dairy | 3 | 15 |
| fruit ices | 3 | 15 |
| gravies | 15 | 75 |
| hard candy | 10 | 50 |
| meat products | 2 | 10 |
| milk products | 3 | 15 |
| other grains | 5 | 25 |
| poultry | 2 | 10 |
| processed fruits | 2 | 10 |
| seasonings/ flavors | 5 | 25 |
| soft candy | 10 | 50 |
| soups | 5 | 25 |
| sweet sauces | 5 | 25 |
How this molecule is described
Sources disagree about odour more often than they disagree about chemistry. Rather than show one answer, here is every description on file with how many ingredient records carry it.
Ordered by how many independent descriptor streams give each wording, then by how often it appears. The bar is still replication — one source copied onto many ingredients scores high there — so the two can disagree.
Bars are the share of ingredient records carrying each description. High agreement means the sources replicate each other — not necessarily that they are right.
Published thresholds
17 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
40.0 ppb – 57.5 ppbThe reference measurement — smelled in water. OAV is computed against this.
| Threshold | Matrix | Source | Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40.0 ppb SIDA | water | Rychlik 1998 · 3 studies | — |
| 57.5 ppb | water_odor | Leffingwell | — |
In a food matrix
1.1 ppb – 40.0 ppbMeasured in a real food, where the matrix shifts detection — not a clean-water value.
| Threshold | Matrix | Source | Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.1 ppb SIDA | water (food: green tea infusion (jingshan cha)) | Literature corpus | 29376363, 32251584, 11308345 +60 |
| 1.1 ppb SIDA | water (food: reference standard (water)) | Literature corpus | 29376363, 32251584, 11308345 +60 |
| 1.1 ppb SIDA | water (food: longjing green tea infusion) | Literature corpus | 29376363, 32251584, 11308345 +60 |
| 1.3 ppb | water (food: lemon) | Literature corpus | 20862741, 30009387, 31502246 |
| 4.0 ppb SIDA | water (food: ginger) | Literature corpus | 29376363, 11308345, 17898513 +60 |
| 6.0 ppb SIDA | water (food: soy sauce) | Literature corpus | 29376363, 17898513 |
| 7.0 ppb SIDA | water (food: fish) | Literature corpus | 29376363, 24594176, 36144849 +1 |
| 13.0 ppb SIDA | water (food: wine) | Literature corpus | 32251584, 11308345, 22156419 +3 |
| 13.2 ppb SIDA | water (food: tea) | Literature corpus | 32251584, 28480362, 32968179 +2 |
| 40.0 ppb SIDA | water (food: unknown) | Literature corpus | 29376363, 19753606, 22978238 +38 |
| 902 ppb | water (food: beer) | Literature corpus | 38698043 |
| Flagged: 129× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden. | |||
| 1235 ppb | water (food: rum) | Literature corpus | 35523852, 37991061, 38974992 |
| Flagged: 176× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden. | |||
| 1257 ppb | water (food: rice) | Literature corpus | 38346996 |
| Flagged: 180× 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
7.5 ppbTasted rather than smelled — a different sense, not comparable.
| Threshold | Matrix | Source | Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7.5 ppb SIDA | water_retronasal | Rychlik 1998 · 1 studies | — |
In air
85.1 ppbAirborne detection — not comparable to a water threshold.
| Threshold | Matrix | Source | Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 85.1 ppb | air (C2_cometto_muniz_abraham) | Cometto-Muñiz (PMC) | — |
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 pentenoic 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 pentenoic acid in it.
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