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Electronic Nose and Its Application to Microbiological Food Spoilage Screening

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Sensing Technology: Current Status and Future Trends II

Part of the book series: Smart Sensors, Measurement and Instrumentation ((SSMI,volume 8))

Abstract

Electronic Nose (EN) is a machine designed for detecting and discriminating complex odours using an array of broadly specific chemical sensors by mimicking the working mechanism and the main building blocks of biological olfaction. ENs are valuable candidates to be applied in various areas of food quality control, including microbial contamination diagnosis. In this chapter the EN technology is presented and its exploitation for microbiological screening of food products is reviewed. Two paradigmatic examples are presented. Both advantages and drawbacks of sensor technology in food quality control are discussed. Despite of many successful results, the high intrinsic variability of food samples together with persisting limits of the sensor technology still impair ENs trustful applications at the industrial scale thus further research efforts and technology improvements are required.

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Acknowledgments

Authors acknowledge CAFIS project POR-FERS 2007/2013 and Consorzio Casalasco del Pomodoro Soc.Agr.Coop (Cremona, Italy) for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dip. di Ingegneria dell’Informazione, Università di Brescia, Via Branze 38,  25133 ,  Brescia, Italy

    M. Falasconi & E. Comini

  2. University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Deptartment of Life Sciences, Via Amendola 2–Padiglione Besta,  42122,  Reggio Emilia, Italy

    V. Sberveglieri

  3. Dip. di Medicina Molecolare e Traslazionale, Università di Brescia, Viale Europa, 11,  25123,  Brescia, Italy

    E. Gobbi

  4. CNR-IDASC, SENSOR Lab, ViaBranze, 45,  25123,  Brescia, Italy

    M. Falasconi, E. Comini, I. Concina, V. Sberveglieri & E. Gobbi

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  1. M. Falasconi
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  2. E. Comini
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  3. I. Concina
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  4. V. Sberveglieri
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  5. E. Gobbi
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Correspondence to M. Falasconi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Built Environment and Sustainable Technologies Research Institute, School of Built Environment, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Alex Mason

  2. School of Engineering and Advanced Technology (SEAT), Massey University (Manawatu Campus), Palmerston North, New Zealand

    Subhas Chandra Mukhopadhyay

  3. Institute of Fundamental Sciences, Massey University (Manawatu Campus), Palmerston North, New Zealand

    Krishanthi Padmarani Jayasundera

  4. Centre for Development in Advanced Computing, Kolkata, India

    Nabarun Bhattacharyya

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Falasconi, M., Comini, E., Concina, I., Sberveglieri, V., Gobbi, E. (2014). Electronic Nose and Its Application to Microbiological Food Spoilage Screening. In: Mason, A., Mukhopadhyay, S., Jayasundera, K., Bhattacharyya, N. (eds) Sensing Technology: Current Status and Future Trends II. Smart Sensors, Measurement and Instrumentation, vol 8. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02315-1_6

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