Our commitment to product optimisation and material testing
Do you like what you smell?
When it comes to deciding which products and materials appeal to us – and which don’t – our senses play an important role. So if you want to make sure that your products have the sweet smell of success, look no further than Odournet’s product and material testing services.
How can we help?
Sensory analysis, and especially the assessment of odour concentration, helps to optimise your product in terms of both perception and cost – and Odournet staff are skilled in assessing and optimising the sensory attributes of products and materials. We can assess how your product is perceived – particularly in terms of odour – using trained or naive sensory panels, depending on your desired test set-up and related questions.
Perceptions, of course, are hard to quantify or explain, but we use molecular analysis to find the reasons behind them. High-definition gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and gas chromatography-sniffing (GC-Sniffing) are both useful methods for getting to grips with odours.
We use a range of standard product testing techniques:
- Dynamic olfactometry, odour intensity and hedonic tone tests, using ‘representative’ and ‘trained’ panels
- Headspace sniffing tests, using expert panels with standardised olfactory acuity
- GC-MS and GC-Sniffing, which combines GC separation with sensory analysis, and GC-IMS
- Determination of polarity and aromatic profiles
- Online surveys and instant SMS text message surveys
- Field research (in-use tests).
In addition to these standard techniques, we routinely design bespoke tests. All our tests help to answer certain questions, such as:
- How is the odour of my product perceived?
- How does my product perform in a benchmark test?
- How does my product perform over time?
- Does my product enhance odour perception?
- Does my product reduce or mask malodour?
- How can I prove that my product works?
- Is there an odour problem?
Once we know what questions you need answered, we can identify the most appropriate techniques and create a study that will provide relevant, valuable information. Typical Odournet studies include:
- odour profiling
- longevity testing of fragrances
- efficacy testing
- off-odour identification
- real-location tests
- molecular screening
- odour-related claim support
- in vitro and in vivo studies
- and many more approaches.
Need to know more?
There’s almost no limit to the applications for product optimisation and material testing. Our recent odour analysis has involved automobile parts, personal hygiene products, deodorants and sanitary products, incontinence control products, textiles, natural gas odorisation, electrical equipment, electronic parts, household appliances and much more.
You can ship a sample to us from anywhere in the world. To make things even easier, our laboratories are located very close to international airports (Amsterdam, Barcelona, Hamburg, Heathrow and Manchester).
