New VDI guideline evaluates disgusting odors
To mark World Odour Day on 27 June 2025, the Association of German Engineers (VDI ) is presenting a new guideline that introduces a standardized method for assessing nauseating and nausea-inducing odours for the first time. The guideline VDI 3940 Sheet 6, which will be published on July 1, 2025, closes a gap in the technical regulations and offers a scientifically sound procedure for objectively classifying such odors.
Odors influence emotions and warn of danger, but their perception is individual and complex. Particularly disgusting or nausea-inducing odors pose a challenge. The new method uses existing VDI standards for assessing odor intensity and hedonics, supplemented by a special questionnaire. This makes it possible to assess the disgust potential both at the point of emission, such as industrial plants, and at the point of immission, such as in residential areas. If a critical threshold value is exceeded, there is a potential health hazard.
The guideline creates legal certainty for authorities that review plant permits under the Federal Immission Control Act or respond to complaints from the public. It supplements existing VDI regulations on odor measurement in outdoor air and indoor spaces as well as the Technical Instructions on Air Quality Control. The method will be presented at the 11th VDI symposium “Odors in the Environment” on November 18 and 19, 2025 in Salzburg. Objections to the draft can be submitted until February 28, 2026.
Editorial office: X-Press Journalistenbüro GbR
Gender note. The personal designations used in this text always refer equally to female, male and diverse persons. Double/triple references and gendered designations are avoided for the sake of better readability ected.
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