Absolute off-flavor thresholds were determined for six solvents in a high fat cookie by a combination of sensory evaluation and gas chromatographic analysis for solvents. Thresholds at 25°C were toluene (1.2 ppm), butanone-2 (5 ppm), ethyl acetate (7 ppm), hexane (24 ppm), propanol-2 (37 ppm), 2-methoxy ethanol (63 ppm). Partition coefficients were also determined for these solvents in the cookies and in polypropylene packaging film to estimate the concentration in the film that could produce off-flavor in the cookies.

Partition coefficients and absolute flavor thresholds were determined in high‐fat containing cookies for 11 organic compounds. They consisted of three structural and functional groups: three homologous aliphatic esters, four aromatic hydrocarbons, and four heterogeneous aliphatics. The two groups of structurally and functionally related compounds exhibited similar individual thresholds but the heterogeneous group gave widely different values. Mixtures of these compounds at subthreshold and threshold concentrations gave interactions that could be sorted into additive or independent categories according to group similarities. Application of numerical categorization formulas did not show consistent correspondence with word definitions of additivity or independence.