Posted on 02/05/2009 10:11:18 PM PST by Coleus
The case of the mystery maple syrup mist, a harmless scent that many Upper West Side and Morningside Heights residents have been smelling for the past several years, has been solved. NY1's Grace Rauh filed the following report. The smell of maple syrup on a waffle? Not a problem. But when New Yorkers began noticing that same smell wafting through parts of the city, no one knew quite how to explain it, until Thursday that is.
"We have solved the mystery of the strange maple syrup-like odor that has been wafting through parts of our city during the past few years," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. After years of being outwitted by a sugary smell, the city came up with a rapid response plan to track the scent.
When Upper West Siders began reporting last week that the sweet fragrance was back, air inspectors raced to the scene to collect the evidence. Officials then examined the wind and weather patterns to determine the path of the scent -- but they didn't have to look too far.
The maple syrup smell was traced to a flavor and fragrance factory in North Bergen, New Jersey, which uses fenugreek seeds to produce food additives. The seed is often used in flavoring for artificial maple syrup, hence the maple syrup smell.
Bloomberg says the New Jersey plant operated by Frutarom doesn't appear to be violating any laws. He emphasized that the scent is not harmful. The company issued a statement saying, "The naming of our company as one of those potentially contributing to this condition came as a surprise to us. Fenugreek is a natural product that has been produced here for over 30 years in compliance with all laws and regulations."
The City Hall announcement was a lighthearted one to say the least. "I never smelled it, but I do, for the record, like maple sugar syrup on my French toast," said Bloomberg. It was clear the maple mystery was treated as much more than a laughing matter, given the level of thought that went into the response plan.
"We also started having air inspectors for the deputy commissioner bring air canisters home with them so they didn't need to go to the office. They didn't need to go to a DEP facility to be armed and ready to respond," said Eugene Berardi, the mayor's Emergency Public Communications Manager.
Just because the city now knows the source of the smell, doesn't mean they can contain it. But next time New Yorkers smell some maple syrup in the air, at least they'll know where its coming from.
Well, I guess it wasn’t too many white castles after all and you can’t blame this one on the cows, none are in North Bergen. I’ve drunk fenugreek tea before, so I know how it smells.
I’m also from Bergen Cty NJ , and I had a customer who was a fragrance chemist who lived in Norwood, and he once boasted “I could make the entire town of Norwood smell of
peanuts if I wanted to”.
I grew up in Lodi! Now that explains why when I was little I used to remember going through a town that used to “smell”. Couldn’t explain it, but it smelled - and no, it wasn’t the Chock-Full-o-Nuts coffee factory (although that always did smell good when they were roasting beans - didn’t it!)
see what happens when you mess with us, you get a stink bomb.
stepping back in time...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1536696/posts
“SINCE 1400 HOURS...911 IN NEW YORK CITY HAS RECEIVED SEVERAL TELEPHONE CALLS INDICATING”
Posted on December 8, 2005 3:04:50 PM PST by NYCVOICE
#
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1510956/posts
“Strong Sweet Smell Reported in Manhattan”
AP ^ | 10/28/05 | AP
Posted on October 28, 2005 8:48:38 AM PDT by kinghorse
I once lived in a town in Alabama that has a peanut processing plant that made peanut products and lots of peanut butter. You guessed it. Also once lived in a town in Nebraska that has a Hormel meat packing plant. Don’t ask.
I now live in New Jersey, and the area around here used to have a constant undefinable oil and chemical smell until the air pollution laws became more strict. Have not detected the maple syrup smell yet, though.
Something smells good in northern New Jersey? It sure isn’t politics. Not Jimmy Hoffa.
I once dated a girl who lived about 5 houses down from Pimlico Racetrack in Baltimore. Need I say more, and the city still stinks, but this time its from bodies lying all over the place.
Re the photo of the rabbit and the pancake.
Is this called Welsh Rabbit?
I’ve had a couple of cats, out of many, whose fur usually smelled like fenugreek. I always assumed that, since different cats have different hunting territories, that those particular ones were scuffling through something very fragrant as they looked for mice, but I never could figure out what it was.
Nice guess, but no. More properly Welsh Rarebit, the dish contains no meat.
Ping.
Over in East Grand Forks, Minnesota, there was a sugar beet processing plant.
Depending on the prevailing winds, Grand forks either smelled like a McDonald's french fry, which was not bad, or the REALLY bad sewage smell from the Crystal Sugar plant.
Years ago, the Purina plant in Harrisonburg, Va made the whole town smell like a bag of dried dog food.
When RJR had plants running in Downtown Winston-Salem it smelled like a fresh pack of cigs.
But my heart goes out to those living near sugar and paper mills. The only thing worse I’ve ever smelled was the exhaust from a commercial chicken sh_t dehydrator.
This little gem from the article gave me a vision of air inspectors dressed in SWAT outfits:
“”We also started having air inspectors for the deputy commissioner bring air canisters home with them so they didn’t need to go to the office. They didn’t need to go to a DEP facility to be armed and ready to respond,” said Eugene Berardi, the mayor’s Emergency Public Communications Manager.”
All these years, and who'da thought to look there? Huh, what a surprise!
(Actually it's fallout from mind-altering gummint Chemtrails, and this is just a cover story.)
The maple syrup smell was traced to a flavor and fragrance factory in North Bergen, New Jersey, which uses fenugreek seeds to produce food additives. The seed is often used in flavoring for artificial maple syrup, hence the maple syrup smell. Bloomberg says the New Jersey plant operated by Frutarom doesn't appear to be violating any laws.Not yet, anyway. It's official -- NYC smells worse than NJ. Thanks Coleus.
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