ESTABLISHMENT OF QUALITY CONTROL FRAMEWORK FOR OLFACTOMETRY IN JAPAN

In Japan, the necessity of developing quality control system for olfactometry and standardization of measurement procedure for the promotion of nationwide spread of olfactometry has been recognized especially in recent years. In this paper, the establishment of quality control framework for olfactometry in Japan, including selection of a reference odor, development of reference odor preparation technique, interlaboratory comparison of olfactometry, and proposal of basic concepts and fundamental constitution of quality control manual for laboratory use, was discussed. Ethyl acetate was selected as a reference odor for olfactometry, and four preparation methods (i.e., steel cylinder method, standard gas generator method, odor bag method, and vacuum bottle/odor bag method) were verified and confirmed to be applicable to quality control processes. In late 2000, interlaboratory comparison of olfactometry was carried out in order to collect basic data for the establishment of quality control procedure and the determination of quality criteria. Mean values, repeatability standard deviation, reproducibility standard deviation, and standard deviations under intermediate conditions of detection threshold were calculated from the measurement results. On the bases of these discussions, quality control framework for olfactometry and main features of quality control manual for laboratory use were proposed.