Detection of microorganism in water and different food matrix by electronic nose

Abstract

Nowadays in alimentary industry exist very restrictive quality controls to assure the security of the products and the consumer health. It is assumed that features like the product technology and microbiological quality has been tested when a product arrives on the market. One of the most critical points in food industry today is to avoid microbiological contamination of the products during the different step of the food chain production. The importance of prevention of this episodes relapse not only in the safety of the consumer but also in the prevention of huge economic losses for the industry. On the other hand the presence of microorganisms in food industry is totally required since some kind of them are one of the most important food matrix processors. The current microbiological quality test or those carried out to select the most adequate strains for a determinate target, requires a substantial amount of money, specialized skills and time to reveal the results. The aim of this study was to survey the microbial development trough the Electronic Nose (EN) to be applied in food quality control laboratories. The novel EN used in this study is equipped with an array of chemical gas sensor composed by 6 MOS (Metal oxide sensor) two of this constructed using nanowire technology. This combination of sensors array allow enhancing the threshold of the instrument detecting compounds in low concentration. It also provides information of the presence of a determinate microorganisms and their development in a food matrix reducing drastically the required time for the classical microbiological analysis.