I would like to ask how to detect the odor of chemical products?
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Our company produces a chemical raw material (benzoic acid) in tablet or powder form. Under normal conditions, it has a slightly irritating rose-like scent; sometimes customers complain that the odor is too strong. The boss asked me to establish a standard for this odor, but it’s very difficult to determine what constitutes an appropriate level of odor – different people have different opinions on this. When workers in the workshop smell the sample, they all say there isn’t much odor, while those in the office generally say the odor is strong. I searched online but couldn’t find any good instruments; the problem is that the difference in smell is too small. How do people identify them?
Regarding the odor of chemical substances, due to differences in sense of smell, different people will have very varied subjective perceptions of the same substance. For the people in the workshop, this smell may not seem noticeable, as their sense of smell has become desensitized to it over time ； However, for those who have not been exposed to this type of product, this scent may seem very strong and pungent. Have you heard a saying? It’s like being in an abalone shop: after some time, one no longer notices the smell. That’s exactly the same principle. A person’s sense of smell can become dull due to prolonged exposure to stimuli.