Sensors 2009, 9, 6058-6083; doi:10.3390/s90806058 OPEN ACCESS sensors ISSN 1424-8220 www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors Review Meat Quality Assessment by Electronic Nose (Machine Olfaction Technology) Mahdi Ghasemi-Varnamkhasti 1,*, Seyed Saeid Mohtasebi 1, Maryam Siadat 2 and Sundar Balasubramanian 3 1 Agricultural Machinery Engineering Department, University College of Agriculture and Natural Resources , University of Tehran, P.O. Box 4111, Karaj 31587-77871, Iran; E-Mail:
[email protected] 2 Laboratoire Interfaces Composants et Microélectronique, LICM/CLOES/SUPELEC, Université de METZ 2, Rue E. Belin, 57070 METZ, France; E-Mail:
[email protected] 3 Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Louisiana State University, AgCenter, 149 E.B. Doran Building, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA; E-Mail:
[email protected] * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel.: +98-0261-2801011; Fax: +98-0261-2808138 Received: 7 June 2009; in revised form: 22 June 2009 / Accepted: 14 July 2009 / Published: 30 July 2009 Abstract: Over the last twenty years, newly developed chemical sensor systems (so called “electronic noses”) have made odor analyses possible. These systems involve various types of electronic chemical gas sensors with partial specificity, as well as suitable statistical methods enabling the recognition of complex odors. As commercial instruments have become available, a substantial increase in research into the application of electronic noses in the evaluation of volatile compounds in food, cosmetic and other items of everyday life is observed. At present, the commercial gas sensor technologies comprise metal oxide semiconductors, metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors, organic conducting polymers, and piezoelectric crystal sensors.