Chapter 27 - Olive Oil and Combined Electronic Nose and Tongue

Abstract

Virgin olive oils contain natural compounds of high added value and specific organoleptic properties. Using reliable, precise, and accurate equipment is essential in the detection of inadequate characteristics of virgin olive oil. However, the use of traditional analytical techniques is limited by the need for expensive instrumentation and complex sample preparation. One of the most promising ways of developing rapid, sensitive, and inexpensive methods for quality control in virgin olive oils is the use of multisensor systems. However, using the electronic nose or the electronic tongue individually can provide incomplete information about virgin olive oils. Therefore, the use of fusion technology to study olive oil properties can provide a complete characterization of olive oils. The most important contributions dealing with the electronic sensory characterization of virgin olive oils using the fusion technology between electronic noses and electronic tongues are described in this chapter.