Historical Evolution and Food Control Achievements of Near Infrared Spectroscopy, Electronic Nose, and Electronic Tongue-Critical Overview

Abstract

Amid today's stringent regulations and rising consumer awareness, failing to meet quality standards often results in health and financial compromises. In the lookout for solutions, the food industry has seen a surge in high-performing systems all along the production chain. By virtue of their wide-range designs, speed, and real-time data processing, the electronic tongue (E-tongue), electronic nose (E-nose), and near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy have been at the forefront of quality control technologies. The instruments have been used to fingerprint food properties and to control food production from farm-to-fork. Coupled with advanced chemometric tools, these high-throughput yet cost-effective tools have shifted the focus away from lengthy and laborious conventional methods. This special issue paper focuses on the historical overview of the instruments and their role in food quality measurements based on defined food matrices from the Codex General Standards. The instruments have been used to detect, classify, and predict adulteration of dairy products, sweeteners, beverages, fruits and vegetables, meat, and fish products. Multiple physico-chemical and sensory parameters of these foods have also been predicted with the instruments in combination with chemometrics. Their inherent potential for speedy, affordable, and reliable measurements makes them a perfect choice for food control. The high sensitivity of the instruments can sometimes be generally challenging due to the influence of environmental conditions, but mathematical correction techniques exist to combat these challenges.

Keywords: chemometrics; fingerprinting; food adulteration; food authenticity; sensors.

Figure 1

Correlative analytical methods used as food quality control devices, their applications, and some of the commonly consumed food matrices defined by the Codex General Standard for Food Additives [21].

Figure 2

Overview of the evolution of near infrared spectrometers. Reproduced with permission from K H Norris [41] published by Journal of Near Infrared Spectroscopy (2020)¹, K H Norris (2008)^2,3 Technicon Instruments Corporation [44] published by Analytical Chemistry (2020)⁴, and J Malinen [45] published by Sensors and Actuators B (2020)⁵. The rest of the figures are self-developed based on authors’ own pictures.

Figure 3

Overview of the evolution of the electronic nose. Self-developed figures based on authors’ own pictures.

Figure 4

Overview of the evolution of the E-tongue. Reproduced with permission from Intelligent Sensor Technology, Inc. [205] (2020)³. The rest of the figures are self-developed based on authors own pictures.