The Column - June 2008 - (Page 6)

Bonnefille The Column www.thecolumn.eu.com June 2008 Foodcollection/Getty Images Sensory Quality Control of Food and Packaging Products Marion Bonnefille, Alpha MOS, Toulouse, France. Quality control of food products and packaging must ensure conformity of the product not only in terms of safety and chemical composition but also from a sensory point of view. Among these sensory parameters, flavour is crucial because it deeply influences the success of products. Consequently, olfactive features must be monitored from product development to production stage. Odour testing is often conducted by expert sensory panels, which requires hours for training them and a frequent availability of panelists. Therefore, Electronic Nose analysers have become extensively used within the food and beverage and the plastic and packaging industries for their speed and permanent availability. The E-Nose can be applied to a wide range of applications including product development, process monitoring or quality control. In this latter field, applications can concern supplier monitoring or, as we will see here, product conformity control and aroma ageing follow-up. These MOS measure electrical resistance changes upon contact with volatile organic compounds. These electrical output signals are recorded and processed by mathematical models included in the E-Nose software. E-Nose sensors, such as the human ones, are cross-selective and can react to many substances responsible for odours. Each Figure 1: Comparison of human olfaction and E-Nose working principle. Human sensing process Odour receptors Analysis by brain Aged apple flavour The Electronic Nose: An Instrument that Measures Odours and Chemical Compounds The specificity of Electronic Nose analysers is that their working principle mimics human olfaction (Figure 1). Instead of individually measuring and identifying the various compounds responsible for the flavour, as many analytical techniques can do, an E-Nose captures the global profile of a flavour/odour. They were developed to perform qualitative and quantitative analyses of organoleptic and chemical properties of products. E-nose systems consist of several parts: a sampling system, a detection system and a computing system. In the detection system, various technologies can be implemented including gas sensors, such as metal oxide sensors (MOS). Author: Marion Bonnefille Contact: bonnefille@alpha-mos.com Fingerprint recognition Acquisition Data treatment Comparison and decision Gas sensors’ detection Analysis by software Fingerprint recognition Instrumental process 6 http://www.thecolumn.eu.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Column - June 2008

The Column - June 2008
Contents
Sensory Quality Control of Food and Packaging Products
News
Incognito Conferences and Exhibitions – Worthwhile or Not?
Market Trends and Analysis
Tips and Tricks: GPC/SEC How Do I Calibrate a GPC/SEC System?
Analysis of Macromolecular Branching by Triple Detection GPC/SEC

The Column - June 2008