Electronic Nose, Tongue and Eye: Their Usefulness for the Food Industry

Abstract

Background: The electronic nose, tongue, and eye are futuristic technologies that have been used for many years; they have been gaining market in different types of industries and can increasingly be found in the food area; their function is to determine sensory characteristics (smell, aroma, and flavor) and objective visuals, without the subjectivity that can be represented by sensory analysis by people (the study that can complement the analysis of machines, without being exclusive). Objectives: Find the main generalities of these mechanisms, their sensors, software, mechanism of action, and applications within the food industry. Methods: A search was carried out in the main databases of indexed articles, with terms that allowed collecting the necessary information, and 89 articles were used that met different inclusion criteria. Results: The main outcomes were to understand the operation of each of these technologies, what their main components are, and how they can be linked in the beer, wine, oil, fruit, vegetable, dairy, etc. industry to determine their quality, safety, and fraud. Conclusions: The use of electronic nose, tongue, and eye is found in more food industries every day. Its technology continues to evolve; the future of sensory analysis will undoubtedly apply these mechanisms due to the reliability, speed, and reproducibility of the results.

E-Senses, Panel Tests and Wearable Sensors: A Teamwork for Food Quality Assessment and Prediction of Consumer’s Choices

“…E-senses have been used to characterize food features associated with sensory and compositional profiles, in a rapid and objective way. The use of E-senses for food quality evaluation has recently been reviewed many times [1,14,15]. This section focuses on the recent applications of E-senses for food evaluation, especially considering traits that influence humans' perception of food quality.…”

“…After the processing, what is obtained is an aromatic fingerprint. The E-nose can be trained to interpret the results differentially depending on the food industry needs, and the sensors can be customized based on the desired application [15]. As being able to mimic the human smell, the E-nose has been largely tested in the food industry to identify specific aromatic fingerprints associated with food quality, especially considering that different aspects influence the intensity and composition of food aroma profile.…”

“…One of the main disadvantages of e-tongue sensors is that they can be sensitive to temperature and, therefore, sensors' temperature control is often required. Furthermore, the sensors are often characterized by a relatively short lifespan and a frequent and careful check of e-tongue performance and reliability is pivotal; in this case, a large number of samples is also required to have a solid and reliable result [15]. Lastly, considering that human taste also perceives astringency, viscosity, heat, spicy, and so on, a complete description of the overall taste with the e-tongue alone is not possible.…”

Assessment of Chokeberry Powders Quality Obtained Using an Innovative Fluidized-Bed Jet Milling and Drying Method with Pre-Drying Compared with Convection Drying

“…The e-eye uses image sensors instead of human eyes to collect images of objects, and uses a computer simulation criterion to identify the image to prevent subjective deviation of human eyes. The evaluation of measurements is performed with the use of software that creates color spectra with the indication of the size (expressed as a percentage) of their presence in the tested sample [32]. The images are then processed as a color spectrum, with the area of each significant color marked as a percentage (Figure 6a,b).…”

Physicochemical, Electronic Nose and Tongue, Sensory Evaluation Determination Combined with Chemometrics to Characterize Ficus hirta Vahl. (Moraceae) Beer

“…ese methods are used to characterize the components that contribute to the compositional or sensory profiles of foods and beverages, helping to evaluate the freshness and monitor the processes of food and beverages products from ripening to harvest and from raw material storage to packaging and consumption, thus controlling the qualities of food and beverages, as well as allowing complex sensory information to be processed (stimuli for the human sensory system) [13]. e e-nose and e-tongue methods have become popular because of many advantages including high sensitivity, convenient construction, and cost-effectiveness [14].…”