What does it mean when you smell something burning but there's nothing burning?

Online Answer
Brief episodes of phantom smells or phantosmia — smelling something that's not there — can be triggered by temporal lobe seizures, epilepsy, or head trauma. Phantosmia is also associated with Alzheimer's and occasionally with the onset of a migraine.
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When you first start the oven, it is normal to detect an unusual odor. This is caused by the combustion of gas at the burner and will go away within a minute or two. The odor of the unburned gas can be compared to the smell of rotten eggs. It is not normal to smell unburned gas in your kitchen..
Beef that isn't safe can definitely have a sulfurous smell. Try to get a refund. I used to also wonder "if I cook it really well, that will kill the harmful bacteria". But the simple answer is this: "you can't eat spoiled meat even if you cook it until all of the bacteria are dead.
If they smell like ammonia or rotten eggs, it means the shrimp are old. Shrimp should not smell like chlorine, either. Washing shrimp in chlorine to kill bacteria is legal, but not acceptable.
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Fishy odors begin to develop in fish immediately after they are caught and killed, as bacteria on the surface break down the compound trimethylamine oxide into stinky trimethylamine. As long as the flesh is still firm and the skin is shiny rather than slimy, this fish is still fine to cook and eat.