2,4,6-Trichloroanisole represents one of the strongest of off-flavors, substances "generated naturally in foods/beverages [that considerably] deteriorate the quality" of such products.

[4] As of 2000, TCA was considered the primary chemical compound responsible for the phenomenon of cork taint in wines,[5][1] and it has an unpleasant earthy, musty and moldy smell.

[2] TCA has also been suggested as cause of the "Rio defect" in coffees from Brazil and other parts of the world,[6] which refers to a taste described as "medicinal, phenolic, or iodine-like".

[7] In investigation of the mechanism of its role in producing off-flavor effects, it was found to "attenuate olfactory transduction by suppressing cyclic nucleotide-gated channels, without evoking odorant responses.

[10][11][9] The chlorophenol precursor, 2,4,6-trichlorophenol, is used as a fungicide; more generally, related compounds can originate as contaminants found in some pesticides and wood preservatives, or as by-products of the chlorine bleaching process used to sterilize or bleach wood, paper, and other materials.