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Integrative Approaches for Food Sensory and Flavor Analysis

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Science and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 January 2023) | Viewed by 12436

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
1. Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO), ESA, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253 Bragança, Portugal
2. Laboratório Associado para a Sustentabilidade e Tecnologia em Regiões de Montanha (SusTEC), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, Bragança, Portugal
Interests: olive oil; table olives and olive by-products: quality control; chemical characterization and sensory analysis; use of electronic tongues in food science and technology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Co-Guest Editor
Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO), ESA, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253 Bragança, Portugal
Interests: olive oil; table olives and olive by-products: quality control, chemical characterization and sensory analysis; agriculture/plant protection/agricultural entomology; influence of agronomic practices on the composition and quality of plant origin products
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO), ESA, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253 Bragança, Portugal
Interests: electrochemical sensor technology; electronic tongues and aptasensors; food science and technology; geographical origin assessment; quality control; adulteration detection; biomedical applications; biomarkers detection
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nowadays, in the moment of buying, consumers have an increasing concern regarding the flavor of foods. Sensory and flavor characteristics plays a very important role in product evaluation. Through it, we can assess the food quality, select raw materials, determine the shelf-life and infer the consumer preferences. Sensory analysis is performed by trained panelists, which evaluate different positive and negative attributes. However, other tools have been developed to assist in the pre-selection of raw materials. The electronic tongue together with the electronic nose emerged as precise and easy to use taste and aroma sensing devices for the sensory analysis of food matrices. These sensing devices may be portable allowing a fast and in-situ assessment of positive and negative (i.e., defects) gustatory and olfactory sensations, mimicking the performance of the trained sensory panels. These types of tools are powerful analytical devices that can overcome/minimize several known limitations of panelists, such as human fatigue, low number of samples analyzed per day and the intrinsic subjectivity of the human factor. The development and performance of fast and effective tools have benefited greatly from recent advances in key fields, such as artificial intelligence, chemometrics, digital electronic sensor design, material science, microcircuit design, software innovations, miniaturization techniques and electronic system integration This special edition is dedicated to the latest developments in the field of practical tools for evaluating the taste of food, including chemical sensor and biosensor application, innovative signal acquisition and data processing and industrial implementation.

Dr. Nuno Rodrigues
Prof. Dr. José Alberto Pereira
Prof. Dr. António M. Peres
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • Electronic tongue
  • Sensor/biosensor electrochemical devices
  • Potentiometric devices
  • Voltammetric devices
  • Chemometric tools
  • Food analysis
  • Sensory analysis

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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8 pages, 1072 KiB  
Communication
Qualitative Preliminary Approach for the Development of a Sensory Vocabulary for Actinidia arguta Fruits
by Nicole Roberta Giuggioli, Cristiana Peano, Luca Brondino and Thais Mendes da Silva
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(20), 9361; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11209361 - 9 Oct 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1482
Abstract
Actinidia arguta fruits (baby kiwi) have recently been introduced and marketed in Italy under the Nergi® brand. The freshness of fruits and the maintenance of their quality after the harvest time influence the perception of taste and the sensory attributes for final [...] Read more.
Actinidia arguta fruits (baby kiwi) have recently been introduced and marketed in Italy under the Nergi® brand. The freshness of fruits and the maintenance of their quality after the harvest time influence the perception of taste and the sensory attributes for final acceptance by the consumer. In this work, we propose to use recently introduced sensory methods to create a sensory vocabulary not yet available for the two varieties covered by the brand: cv. Hortgem Rua® and cv. Hortgem Tahi®. The check-all-that-apply (CATA) method was performed with 15 trained tasters of Sata s.r.l. company (Alessandria, Italy) and a set of attributes were defined through a focus group (recruited at DISAFA, University of Turin) with habitual fruit consumers. The results obtained by CATA identified different profiles for the two varieties marketed under the brand, offering the opportunity to better position and communicate the taste characteristics of the product to the consumer. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrative Approaches for Food Sensory and Flavor Analysis)
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12 pages, 1019 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Roasting Effect on Selected Green Tea Volatile Flavor Compound and Pyrazine Content by HS-SPME GC-MS
by Roberto Gotti, Alberto Leoni and Jessica Fiori
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(17), 8217; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11178217 - 4 Sep 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3780
Abstract
The present study aims at the development and validation of a quali-quantitative headspace solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (HS-SPME GC-MS) method for the analysis of odorants in different Chinese and Japanese green teas. A 65 µm PDMS/DVB fiber was used, and GC-MS was [...] Read more.
The present study aims at the development and validation of a quali-quantitative headspace solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (HS-SPME GC-MS) method for the analysis of odorants in different Chinese and Japanese green teas. A 65 µm PDMS/DVB fiber was used, and GC-MS was performed on a ZB-5 (30 m × 0.25 mm ID, 0.25 μm film) column. The main odorants in green tea samples were identified and the method was fully validated. Linearity (r2 0.981–0.999), sensitivity (LOQ 0.005–0.04 µg/mL), reproducibility (CV% 3.12–10.37), accuracy (recovery% 79.08–99.17) and matrix effect (ME% −9.5 to +4.5) were determined. Quantitation of 2,4-heptadienal, β-damascenone, β-ionone, linalool, indole, 2-ethyl-6-methyl-pyrazine, 2-ethyl-5-methyl-pyrazine, 2-ethyl-3,6-dimethylpirazine, 2-ethyl-3,5-dimethyl-pyrazine and 2-acetyl-pyrazine was carried out in the presence of isotopically labeled compounds as the internal standards. The proposed method was applied to the comparison of the profile of the volatile flavor compounds (VFCs) of green tea subjected to roasting treatment at three different temperatures (160, 180 and 200 °C for 30 min). In particular, the roasting process was monitored by following the quantitative variations of the selected odorant content, considered as the most important contributory components to the Hojicha or black tea (roasted tea) flavor. A temperature of 160 °C was found to be the best roasting temperature. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrative Approaches for Food Sensory and Flavor Analysis)
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11 pages, 1199 KiB  
Article
Discrimination of Sweet Cherry Cultivars Based on Electronic Tongue Potentiometric Fingerprints
by Isabel Rodrigues, Nuno Rodrigues, Ítala M. G. Marx, Ana C. A. Veloso, Ana Cristina Ramos, José Alberto Pereira and António M. Peres
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(20), 7053; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10207053 - 11 Oct 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2566
Abstract
Sweet cherry is highly appreciated by its characteristic flavor, which conditions the consumer’s preference. In this study, four sweet cherry cultivars (Durona, Lapins, Summit, and Van cultivars) were characterized according to biometric (fruit and stone weights, length, maximum and minimum diameters, pulp/stone mass [...] Read more.
Sweet cherry is highly appreciated by its characteristic flavor, which conditions the consumer’s preference. In this study, four sweet cherry cultivars (Durona, Lapins, Summit, and Van cultivars) were characterized according to biometric (fruit and stone weights, length, maximum and minimum diameters, pulp/stone mass ratio), physicochemical (CIELAB color, penetration force, titratable acidity, and total soluble solids), and potentiometric profiles (recorded by a lab-made electronic tongue with lipid polymeric membranes). Biometric and physicochemical data were significantly cultivar-dependent (p-value < 0.0001, one-way ANOVA). Summit cherries had higher masses and dimensions. Lapins cherries had the highest penetration force values having, together with Summit cherries, the highest CIELAB values. Van cherries showed the highest total soluble solids contents. No significant differences were found for fruits’ acidity (similar titratable acidities). The possibility of discriminating cherry cultivars was also evaluated using a linear discriminant analysis/simulated-annealing algorithm. A discriminant model was established based on nine non-redundant biometric-physicochemical parameters (using a low-level data fusion), with low sensitivity (75 ± 15% for the repeated K-fold cross-validation). On the contrary, a discriminant model, based on the potentiometric fingerprints of 11 selected sensors, allowed a better discrimination, with sensitivities of 88 ± 7% for the repeated K-fold cross-validation procedure. Thus, the electronic tongue could be used as a practical tool to discriminate cherry cultivars and, if applied by fruit traders, may reduce the risk of mislabeling, increasing the consumers’ confidence when purchasing this high-value product. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrative Approaches for Food Sensory and Flavor Analysis)
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Review

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21 pages, 2858 KiB  
Review
E-Nose and Olfactory Assessment: Teamwork or a Challenge to the Last Data? The Case of Virgin Olive Oil Stability and Shelf Life
by Margherita Modesti, Isabella Taglieri, Alessandro Bianchi, Alessandro Tonacci, Francesco Sansone, Andrea Bellincontro, Francesca Venturi and Chiara Sanmartin
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(18), 8453; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11188453 - 12 Sep 2021
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 3598
Abstract
Electronic nose (E-nose) devices represent one of the most trailblazing innovations in current technological research, since mimicking the functioning of the biological sense of smell has always represented a fascinating challenge for technological development applied to life sciences and beyond. Sensor array tools [...] Read more.
Electronic nose (E-nose) devices represent one of the most trailblazing innovations in current technological research, since mimicking the functioning of the biological sense of smell has always represented a fascinating challenge for technological development applied to life sciences and beyond. Sensor array tools are right now used in a plethora of applications, including, but not limited to, (bio-)medical, environmental, and food industry related. In particular, the food industry has seen a significant rise in the application of technological tools for determining the quality of edibles, progressively replacing human panelists, therefore changing the whole quality control chain in the field. To this end, the present review, conducted on PubMed, Science Direct and Web of Science, screening papers published between January 2010 and May 2021, sought to investigate the current trends in the usage of human panels and sensorized tools (E-nose and similar) in the food industry, comparing the performances between the two different approaches. In particular, the focus was mainly addressed towards the stability and shelf life assessment of olive oil, the main constituent of the renowned “Mediterranean diet”, and nowadays appreciated in cuisines from all around the world. The obtained results demonstrate that, despite the satisfying performances of both approaches, the best strategy merges the potentialities of human sensory panels and technological sensor arrays, (i.e., E-nose somewhat supported by E-tongue and/or E-eye). The current investigation can be used as a reference for future guidance towards the choice between human panelists and sensorized tools, to the benefit of food manufacturers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrative Approaches for Food Sensory and Flavor Analysis)
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