My seal has smelt since day one after being christened with the demo delivery veggie stock concentrate
I always rinse my bowl, lid immediately with cold water, then detergent and hot water, have hung the lid by its hook on side of bowl since day one, tried bicarb, lemon juice, freezer method which helped but the smelly seal has never lost the stale smell of onions and garlic, even my non Thermie silicon spatula smells exactly the same.
I mentioned my concerns regarding the smell to the service dept at HO and they sent me a new seal and suggested I used that for deserts,
So now have one seal for savory and the other for sweets - haven't christened it yet ...worried I might forget to swap it back and go and contaminate the new one too
I do have a good sense of smell but Im not pregnant