Food analysis using artificial senses

J Agric Food Chem. 2014 Feb 19;62(7):1423-48. doi: 10.1021/jf403215y. Epub 2014 Feb 7.

Abstract

Nowadays, consumers are paying great attention to the characteristics of food such as smell, taste, and appearance. This motivates scientists to imitate human senses using devices known as electronic senses. These include electronic noses, electronic tongues, and computer vision. Thanks to the utilization of various sensors and methods of signal analysis, artificial senses are widely applied in food analysis for process monitoring and determining the quality and authenticity of foods. This paper summarizes achievements in the field of artificial senses. It includes a brief history of these systems, descriptions of most commonly used sensors (conductometric, potentiometric, amperometic/voltammetric, impedimetric, colorimetric, piezoelectric), data analysis methods (for example, artificial neural network (ANN), principal component analysis (PCA), model CIE L*a*b*), and application of artificial senses to food analysis, in particular quality control, authenticity and falsification assessment, and monitoring of production processes.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Biosensing Techniques / instrumentation
  • Biosensing Techniques / methods*
  • Electronic Nose
  • Food Analysis / instrumentation
  • Food Analysis / methods*
  • Humans
  • Smell
  • Taste