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Electronic Noses as a Powerful Tool for Assessing Meat Quality: a Mini Review

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Abstract

Food quality is a fundamental requirement for consumers, and there is growing interest in food quality assessment. An electronic nose is a machine that is designed to mimic biological olfaction and detect and discriminate among complex odors using an array of chemical sensors. Electronic noses have been widely applied for food quality evaluations because they are rapid, sensitive, and non-destructive. In the present paper, we review important applications of electronic noses to meat analysis. First, we briefly describe the components, working principle, and data processing for an electronic nose. Then, we discuss the applications of electronic noses to meat freshness evaluations, quality classification, and authenticity assessments using different pattern recognition algorithms. Despite many successful results, sensor technology limitations still restrict electronic nose applications at the industrial scale. Finally, we discuss existing problems and prospects for electronic noses in food analysis.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful for financial support from the Project of Beijing Science and Technology (grant number Z171100001517017), the Special Projects of Construction of Science and Technology Innovation Ability of Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences (grant numbers KJCX20170420), the Project of Beijing Excellent Talents (grant number 2017000020060G127), the International Cooperation Fund of Beijing Agricultural Forestry Academy (grant number GJHZ2018-05), the Beijing Agricultural Forestry Academy Youth Fund (grant number QNJJ201630), the Open Project of Hubei Engineering Technology Research Center for Farmland Environmental Monitoring (grant number 201601), and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant number 2016YFD0400902). We also thank Gabrielle David, Ph. D, from Liwen Bianji, Edanz Group China (www.liwenbianji.cn/ac), for editing the English text of a draft of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Research Center for Agricultural Standards and Testing, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Science, Beijing, 100097, People’s Republic of China

    Wenshen Jia, Gang Liang, Yalei Wang & Jihua Wang

  2. Risk Assessment Lab for Agro-products (Beijing), Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Wenshen Jia, Gang Liang, Yalei Wang & Jihua Wang

  3. Beijing Municipal Key Laboratory of Agriculture Environment Monitoring, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Wenshen Jia, Gang Liang, Yalei Wang & Jihua Wang

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  1. Wenshen Jia
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  2. Gang Liang
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Correspondence to Gang Liang or Jihua Wang.

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Wenshen Jia declares that he has no conflict of interest. Gang Liang declares that he has no conflict of interest. Yalei Wang declares that he has no conflict of interest. Jihua Wang declares that he has no conflict of interest.

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Jia, W., Liang, G., Wang, Y. et al. Electronic Noses as a Powerful Tool for Assessing Meat Quality: a Mini Review. Food Anal. Methods 11, 2916–2924 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-018-1283-1

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