propenoic acid
Key food odorantFound in 2 ingredients across the CompKitchen flavor graph.
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Key food odorant (generalist)
Dunkel et al. 2014Identified in the meta-analysis of 227 food samples as one of 16 generalist odorants — appears in >25% of foods, typically from generic Maillard, lipid-oxidation, or fermentation pathways. Characteristic odor: vinegar-like.
Properties
- Odor description
- acrid, pungent, sour, vinegar
- Odor threshold — orthonasal, in clean water
- 36000 ppb 1 published value · see all 43 with sources
- CAS number
- 64-19-7
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
43 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
36000 ppbThe reference measurement — smelled in water. OAV is computed against this.
| Threshold | Matrix | Source | Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 36000 ppb SIDA | water | Rychlik 1998 · 2 studies | — |
In a food matrix
0.520 ppb – 1450 ppbMeasured in a real food, where the matrix shifts detection — not a clean-water value.
| Threshold | Matrix | Source | Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.520 ppb | water (food: lime) | Literature corpus | 30972045 |
| 1.8 ppb SIDA | water (food: soy sauce) | Literature corpus | 30779560, 32625638, 18570373 +65 |
| 2.7 ppb | water (food: rice) | Literature corpus | 15675786, 26973621, 28580014 +4 |
| 4.5 ppb SIDA | water (food: onion) | Literature corpus | 30779560, 32625638, 18570373 +65 |
| 5.0 ppb | water (food: pork) | Literature corpus | 39085314 |
| 5.1 ppb | water (food: coffee) | Literature corpus | 38480775 |
| 6.8 ppb | water (food: tea) | Literature corpus | 31861730, 36323840, 37188725 +3 |
| 8.5 ppb | water (food: pepper) | Literature corpus | 34716586, 40060959 |
| 12.7 ppb SIDA | water (food: baijiu) | Literature corpus | 32625638, 35513386 |
| 14.2 ppb SIDA | water (food: truffle) | Literature corpus | 32625638, 36737983 |
| 15.0 ppb SIDA | water (food: garlic) | Literature corpus | 32625638, 35558794 |
| 19.3 ppb SIDA | water (food: unknown) | Literature corpus | 32625638, 18570373, 33714268 +26 |
| 20.5 ppb | water (food: milk) | Literature corpus | 10552650, 39479676 |
| 23.0 ppb | water (food: fish) | Literature corpus | 24594176, 36144849, 37003052 |
| 60.0 ppb | water (food: lamb) | Literature corpus | 22789457 |
| 90.0 ppb | water (food: beef) | Literature corpus | 28911457 |
| 153 ppb | water (food: peanut) | Literature corpus | 41103313 |
| 737 ppb SIDA | water (food: cocoa) | Literature corpus | 30779560, 32625638, 18570373 +65 |
| 749 ppb SIDA | water (food: bread) | Literature corpus | 30779560, 28274420, 28490062 +2 |
| 1450 ppb SIDA | water (food: olive oil) | Literature corpus | 18570373, 28671107 |
| 22000 ppb SIDA | water (food: japanese soy sauce) | Literature corpus | 30779560, 32625638, 18570373 +65 |
| Flagged: 530× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden. | |||
| 22000 ppb SIDA | water (food: maillard model (glucose + proline)) | Literature corpus | 30779560, 32625638, 18570373 +65 |
| Flagged: 530× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden. | |||
| 22000 ppb SIDA | water (food: maillard products) | Literature corpus | 30779560, 32625638, 18570373 +65 |
| Flagged: 530× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden. | |||
| 22000 ppb SIDA | water (food: maillard model) | Literature corpus | 30779560, 32625638, 18570373 +65 |
| Flagged: 530× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden. | |||
| 99000 ppb SIDA | water (food: reference standard (water)) | Literature corpus | 30779560, 32625638, 18570373 +65 |
| Flagged: 2386× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden. | |||
| 180000 ppb SIDA | water (food: beef vegetable gravy) | Literature corpus | 30779560, 32625638, 18570373 +65 |
| Flagged: 4337× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden. | |||
| 180000 ppb SIDA | water (food: pork vegetable gravy) | Literature corpus | 30779560, 32625638, 18570373 +65 |
| Flagged: 4337× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden. | |||
| 489370 ppb | water (food: wine) | Literature corpus | 32397426, 32619948, 32630090 +1 |
| Flagged: 11792× 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
378 ppb – 22000 ppbTasted rather than smelled — a different sense, not comparable.
| Threshold | Matrix | Source | Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 378 ppb SIDA | oil_retronasal | Rychlik 1998 · 1 studies | — |
| 22000 ppb | water_flavor | Leffingwell | — |
| 22000 ppb SIDA | water_retronasal | Rychlik 1998 · 1 studies | — |
In air
6.0 ppbAirborne detection — not comparable to a water threshold.
| Threshold | Matrix | Source | Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.0 ppb | air | Nagata 2003 | — |
| 6.0 ppb SIDA | air (food: reference standard (air)) | Literature corpus | 30779560, 32625638, 18570373 +65 |
Other matrix
124 ppb – 135 ppbMeasured in a non-aqueous medium (oil, starch, cellulose).
| Threshold | Matrix | Source | Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 124 ppb SIDA | oil_orthonasal | Rychlik 1998 · 1 studies | — |
| 124 ppb SIDA | oil (sunflower oil) (food: gouda cheese) | Literature corpus | 30779560, 32625638, 18570373 +65 |
| 124 ppb SIDA | oil (sunflower oil) (food: cocoa beans) | Literature corpus | 30779560, 32625638, 18570373 +65 |
| 124 ppb SIDA | oil (sunflower oil) (food: cocoa powder) | Literature corpus | 30779560, 32625638, 18570373 +65 |
| 135 ppb SIDA | oil (oil) (food: hungarian-type salami) | Literature corpus | 30779560, 32625638, 18570373 +65 |
| 31140 ppb SIDA | starch | Rychlik 1998 · 1 studies | — |
| Flagged: 231× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden. | |||
| 41000 ppb SIDA | wine matrix (12% ethanol) (food: rum / red wine) | Literature corpus | 30779560, 32625638, 18570373 +65 |
| Flagged: 304× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden. | |||
| 75521 ppb SIDA | ethanol/water 40/60 (food: rum (aged)) | Literature corpus | 30779560, 32625638, 18570373 +65 |
| Flagged: 559× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden. | |||
| 76000 ppb SIDA | ethanol/water (food: rum / red wine) | Literature corpus | 30779560, 32625638, 18570373 +65 |
| Flagged: 563× 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 shareEvery ingredient known to contain propenoic 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 propenoic acid in it.
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