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NYC's mysterious syrup smell tracked to New Jersey

NEW YORK – City investigators have tracked down the source of a maple syrup smell that has puzzled New Yorkers several times in recent years. No offense, New Jersey, but it was you.

The harmless but long-confounding smell, which has drifted through swaths of the city at least nine times since 2005, was traced to a facility across the Hudson River that processes seeds for use as artificial flavorings.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that a team of odor investigators — environmental protection, health department and emergency management workers — "put our noses to the ground" to identify the culprit after another whiff in early January.

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