The smell was tracked to a NJ company called Frutarom, which processes fenugreek seeds for food additives. It does not appear that the company is violating any rules or laws.

Mayor Bloomberg: "It's just one of the many aromas we're going to have to live with. I can think of a few things worse than maple syrup." He considers the case CLOSED and thinks the hero is 311, due to all the calls to the system querying the smell. On to the map!

Questions: The Mayor isn't sure if Frutarom is the only company producing this smell. He likes maple syrup on his French toast. He says the cost of the investigation is negligible—it's part of what the city does.

When asked how the city knew the smell isn't dangerous, the Mayor pointed out that there were no reports at hospitals. Bloomberg said the city has 60,000 data points daily and a health-issue was noted, the city would have put it together. Another reporter asked if this would further degrade New Jersey's image; Mayor Bloomberg, ever the diplomat, pointed out there are lovely parts of the Garden State, adding that there are parts of Willets Point are really polluted, too (self-slam?).

We just asked the Mayor if there was any thought of a maple syrup smell warning system—alerts when Frutarom processed the fenugreek seeds. He said no, so the next time we smell it we'll have to assume it's either from Frutarom or we're going crazy.