Benzothiazole

Benzothiazole is a heterocyclic flavour compound occurring in various foods, where trace levels add sulfury, rubbery notes. While part of normal flavour chemistry in products such as cooked meats and roasted coffee, it may cause taints in some foods at higher concentrations, particularly in dairy products where rubbery off-notes are quickly noticed. Flavour chemists track it both as a desirable background note and as a marker of off-flavour development, using gas chromatography to monitor its levels. Its dual role illustrates a common flavour principle: the same compound can enrich or ruin a product depending on concentration and matrix.