Application of an electronic nose system for prediction of sensory quality changes of a meat product (pizza topping) during storage

The aim of the present study was to investigate the predictability of an electronic nose system based on ion mobility regarding storage time as well as sensory quality changes during storage of a pork meat pizza topping product. The study included two independent test sets; “known” production samples and “unknown” samples purchased from a local supermarket (all samples stored at +5 °C after production or purchasing). Models for predicting storage time and sensory quality changes during storage from electronic nose data were estimated by projection of test set samples onto calibration models based on partial least square regression (PLSR). The results showed that storage time of “known” samples was very well predicted. Also, the storage time of “unknown” samples could be fairly well predicted. Sensory quality changes during storage were in general fairly well and significantly predicted for descriptors related to odour and colour, whereas only few descriptors related to texture were found fairly well predicted. Descriptors found predictable for individual test sets clearly related to different stages of the storage time characterizing samples in the test sets, e.g. the test set of “known” samples comprised mainly of samples in the later stage of the storage time and thus descriptors mainly relating to the later stage of the storage time were well predicted, i.e. rancidity and greasy mouthfeel. Overall this study gave evidence of the electronic nose system to be a relevant device for future at- or on-line implementation in quality control (QC) of a pork meat pizza topping product.