The Sulphitic GMP Flavour Standard is a professional sensory reference used for identifying, recognising, and measuring the character of sulphur dioxide (SO₂) in food and beverage products.
While sulphur dioxide is widely used as a preservative and antioxidant, at low levels, excessive concentrations create a sharp, irritating off-flavour that negatively affects product quality.
This standard enables trained sensory panels, brewers, winemakers, and quality teams to identify, quantify, and manage sulphitic intensity, ensuring regulatory and sensory compliance.
We ship globally – shipping costs may apply depending on your region
Sulphitic flavour is the sensory expression of excess sulphur dioxide (SO₂) in a product.
It is an acrid, chemical sensation typically described as:
– Struck matches – Burning sulphur – Choking or irritating – Sharp and chemical
While sulphur dioxide is intentionally used to preserve foods and beverages, excessive amounts produce an undesirable, pungent off-note that masks natural flavours.
WHAT CAUSES SULPHITIC OFF-FLAVOUR?
Sulphitic flavour occurs when sulphur dioxide levels exceed sensory tolerance.
In alcoholic beverages
SO₂ develops from: – Yeast metabolism during fermentation – Added sulphites for microbial control – Residual sulphur compounds remaining after processing
Sulphur dioxide helps prevent oxidation and bacterial spoilage, but excessive levels create a harsh sulphitic aftertaste in beer, wine, and cider.
In non-alcoholic beverages and foods
SO₂ is used as: – A preservative – A packaging gas in the headspace – A shelf-life extender
Over-application or poor control leads to an irritating sulphurous flavour in soft drinks, juices, dried fruits, and processed foods.
USING THE SULPHITIC GMP Flavour Standard FOR SENSORY TRAINING
The sulphitic GMP Flavour Standard provides a controlled reference for how sulphur dioxide should be perceived when present at fault levels.
It enables panels to: – Learn how sulphitic character presents – Set detection thresholds – Calibrate scoring consistency – Distinguish SO₂ from other sulphur defects
This improves accuracy in quality control, fault diagnosis, and shelf-life assessment.
HOW TO RECOGNISE SULPHITIC FLAVOUR?
Key Sensory Terms
– Sulphur dioxide – Struck match – Sulphurous – Choking – Sharp and chemical
These descriptors define the sensory fingerprint of excess SO₂.
WHAT ARE THE PROFESSIONAL APPLICATIONS OF THE SULPHITIC GMP Flavour Standard?
The sulphitic GMP Flavour Standard is used across:
Alcoholic Beverages – Beer fermentation and packaging control – Wine and cider sulphite management – Shelf-life and oxidation prevention – Regulatory and compliance testing
Food & Soft Drinks – Fruit juices and concentrates – Carbonated beverages – Preserved and dried foods – Packaging and shelf-life validation
Sensory Science – Panel training and calibration – Off-flavour benchmarking – Quality assurance programmes – Academic and professional sensory education
It enables teams to maintain flavour balance while ensuring microbial safety.
OTHER INFORMATION
Beer Flavour Wheel: 0111
Typical fault level: 15 mg/L sulphur dioxide
Recommended by: – American Society of Brewing Chemists (ASBC) – European Brewing Chemists (EBC)
⚠ Allergen Notice: Sulphur dioxide is a known allergen. Do not use this GMP Flavour Standard with individuals sensitive to sulphites, including asthmatics.
FlavorActiV GMP Flavour Standards
Only Pharmaceutical Quality GMP Flavour Standards provide sufficient quality for professional sensory panels to train and validate with.
We produce encapsulated GMP (Pharmaceutical Good Manufacturing Practice) Flavour Standards that are safe to both smell and drink. The compounds within our capsules impart the aroma, taste and mouthfeel of a specific defect or positive flavour into a beverage for the purposes of taster training, calibration and quality control.
Our individual flavour GMP Flavour Standards are sold by flavour, each flavour pack contains 5 capsules, each separately blister packaged. Our sensory kits contain a mixture of flavours, each separately blister packaged, read the product description for flavour details.
We ship globally, and have over 20 years of experience at it. Our GMP Pharmaceutical Flavour Standards are produced to the highest standards, and as such, their shelf-life is strong and their quality consistent.
FlavorActiV’s flavour centre is the world’s only pharmaceutically run facility dedicated to the production of flavour reference standards. The Flavour Centre is a state-of-the-art facility housed within the campus of world-renowned Quay Pharma near Liverpool in the U.K.
The Flavour Centre was designed by FlavorActiV from the ground up at the direct request of global customers as they looked to move away from inferior food grade ‘certified flavour standards’ to GMP Pharma, a standard that ensures safe, stable, traceable, consistent and long shelf-life products.
All FlavorActiV’s industry-leading encapsulated flavour standards are manufactured following GMP at our Flavour Centre. All aspects of manufacture are overseen by Quay Pharma who are audited by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.K. Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory agency (MHRA). We also welcome customer audits.
Only FlavorActiV GMP flavour standard capsules bear our mark of authenticity.
We brand each of our capsules so that our customers know they’re getting the Pharmaceutical GMP Quality that only FlavorActiV provide.
Industry leading packaging and shelf-life
FlavorActiV flavour standards are blister packaged, which extends shelf-life and protects capsules from potential contamination. The average shelf-life of FlavorActiV flavour standards is 18 months to 4 years, depending on the flavour compounds.
We will never ship in pots or plastic packaging, here’s why…
Blister packaging protects capsules from the environment until they are ready for use. Blister packaging greatly reduces the amount of headspace for possible flavour escape. As each capsule individually blister packaged, making use of one capsule still leaves all others protected. FlavorActiV Flavour Standard packaging is 100% recyclable, as opposed to polypropylene which is not widely recycled.
Pots are semi-porous, they allow molecules to pass through and flavour to be lost, their significant headspace also adds to substantial flavour escape as a gas, even when using just one capsule all those remaining in the pot are exposed.
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