Since the 19th century, human odour and taste thresholds have been systematically measured. Among the earliest pioneers are Valentin, Passy, Zwaardemaker, Backman and Allison and Katz. Since then, sensory psychology expanded and many others performed threshold measurements.
In the 1970-ies, threshold compilations appeared in the literature. The compilations by Leo van Gemert (first published in 1977 by TNO) is still one of the most complete and updated lists of original threshold values. In June 2006, Leo van Gemert joined forces with Oliemans Punter & Partners for the continuation. The first edition of both compilations was printed in a bound, paperback edition in 2006. The books listed almost 18.000 threshold values with some 3,000 references.
The second edition is available from September 2011. In this edition about 3000 new odour threshold values and about 1500 new flavour and taste threshold values have been added. For most compounds, the CAS numbers are also listed. The books will be supplemented with a pdf version. A list of compounds with CAS numbers can be downloaded from the website (see Preview).
If there is sufficient interest, the books also be made available electronically in 2012.
