New Yorkers stuck with syrupy smell, but can breathe easy

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New Yorkers stuck with syrupy smell, but can breathe easy

 

 

By Jason Kessler

 

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The source of a mysterious maple syrup-like smell

that has periodically blanketed New York is not a particularly

aromatic pancake house but a New Jersey factory involved in the

processing of fenugreek seeds, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced

Thursday.

 

The source of New York's sweet aroma has been identified as the New

Jersy food-flavoring company Frutarom.

 

The sweet aroma first descended upon Manhattan and northern New

Jersey in October 2005, initially triggering several building

evacuations as well as concern the scent was physically harmful.

Authorities from the Office of Emergency Management soon concluded it

posed no danger to the public.

 

The odor made several return appearances in subsequent years, each

time confounding nostrils before vanishing as perplexingly as it

arrived.

 

Comparing information about local wind speed, wind direction and air

humidity against the locations of citizen complaints about the smell,

officials from the city's Department of Environmental Protection

narrowed down the potential source to four factories in northern New

Jersey that produce food additives and fragrances. Watch how the

mystery was solved »

 

Last week, when several dozen residents of Upper Manhattan called to

complain about the smell, the environmental department, having

developed a new evidence gathering procedure, gathered air samples

from each suspected source in canisters. Tests revealed the pungent

perpetrator of that incident was a Hudson County facility owned by

Frutarom, a company that develops and manufactures flavors for the

food, fragrance and pharmaceutical industries.

 

The specific chemical agents responsible for the scent are esters,

compounds " created by the reaction between an alcohol and an acid "

during the processing of fenugreek seeds, according to Bloomberg.

 

Toasted fenugreek seeds are often used in the production of

artificial syrups and in the cuisines of a number of cultures.

 

 

 

The mayor said New Jersey officials, who cooperated with New York in

the investigation, had concluded that Frutorom had not violated any

rules. He said New Yorkers will have to tolerate the syrup smell's

occasional return, noting that it's a relatively benign odor.

" All things considered I can think of a lot of things worse than

maple syrup, "