The genetics of smell and taste

A person’s ability to smell a steroid that contributes to boar taint depends on that person’s genetics, according to recent research out of Norway.

Researchers assembled a group of consumers and evaluated their ability to smell and taste androstenone, the steroid that contributes to boar taint. Consumers tried to detect the steroid’s smell in odour tests, and then assessed the odour and taste of meat that contained androstenone. Researchers found that all the consumers sensitive to the smell had the same genetic variation, which was related to an odour receptor.