E-nose and E-tongue: an Analytical Tool for Quality Control and Management in the Pet Food Industry

In pet food production, the development of new products must take into account both nutritional and palatability aspects. Pet food palatability is related to the pet food sensory properties, such as aroma, flavour, texture shape, and particle size. The pet food industry may take advantage of a sensorial analysis as a powerful tool for quality control and management. The objective of this idea is to set up an electronic nose (e-nose) and tongue (e-tongue) as rapid quality control and research & development tools for the pet food industry. The final goal is to integrate e-nose and e- tongue with other sensing and imaging devices to 1) Ensure high pet food standards in terms of nutritional properties, palatability and acceptability; 2) Set up an instrumental protocol with good correlation to animal sensory properties in order to replace animal preference test, chemical and texture analysis.