Advanced applications of chemo-responsive dyes based odor imaging technology for fast sensing food quality and safety: A review

Website Link (Article by Kang et. al. 2021)

Abstract

Public attention to foodquality and safety has been increased significantly. Therefore, appropriate analytical tools are needed to analyze and sense the food quality and safety. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are important indicators for the quality and safety of food products. Odor imaging technology based on chemo-responsive dyes is one of the most promising methods for analysis of food products.

This article reviews the sensing and imaging fundamentals of odor imaging technology based on chemo-responsive dyes. The aim is to give detailed outlines about the theory and principles of using odor imaging technology for VOCs detection, and to focus primarily on its applications in the field of quality and safety evaluation of food products, as well as its future applicability in modern food industries and research.

The literatures presented in this review clearly demonstrated that imaging technology based on chemo-responsive dyes has the exciting effect to inspect such as quality assessment of cereal , wine and vinegar flavored foods , poultry meat, aquatic products, fruits and vegetables, and tea. It has the potential for the rapid, reliable, and inline assessment of food safety and quality by providing odor-image-based monitoring tool.

Practical Application

The literatures presented in this review clearly demonstrated that imaging technology based on chemo-responsive dyes has the exciting effect to inspect such as quality assessment of cereal , wine and vinegar flavored foods, poultry meat, aquatic products, fruits and vegetables, and tea.

Future Trend and Conclusion

The foregoing contents suggest that imaging detection paves the way for detecting and differentiating complex components. In odor imaging technology based on chemo-responsive dyes, chemo-responsive dyes are generally utilized as probes to interact with given analytes. This interaction with odorants could be quantified by digital imaging.

To solve the associated problem, related studies have employed a cellphone camera to capture imaging data as imaging-collecting tool of imaging technology based on chemo-responsive dyes. In current studies, Zaragoza et al. (2015) used a cellphone camera as the imaging tool to collect signals. Askim and Suslick (2015) developed a portable hand-held device system for imaging detection. Based on this, a small, less expensive hand-held device for use of imaging technology based on chemo-responsive dyes was developed to ensure food quality and safety.

Currently, applications of NIRs and hyperspectral imaging have been explored for food quality detection and monitoring. Therefore, it is possible to combine spectroscopy methods and imaging technology based on chemo-responsive dyes to capture more information. There is a need to capture the odor information in samples by imaging method and the subsequent use of spectroscopy methods for the detection of the response signal via data processing to present a way forward. This might solve the problem of fewer variables available for screening in imaging methods. The model established by imaging technology based on chemo-responsive dyes is more stable and accurate in the near future and can be used for quantitative analysis of food detection.

Odor imaging technology based on chemo-responsive dyes has also been applied in many other fields such as chemistry (R. Wang et al., 2021) and environment science (Song et al., 2017; Li et al., 2020). Odor imaging technology provides a facile, efficient, and sensitive approach for the rapid detection and identification of chemical substrates.

In summary, the technique is simple, cheap, and more time-efficient when utilized with miniature devices such as NIRs. Thus, the industrialization of this technology would economize the investment of equipment funds when applied in food science and other fields. Moreover, it is friendly to the environment with reproducibility. It is also competent for detecting flammable, explosive, and toxic compounds, which indicated the suitability of the proposed approach in environmental quality. However, further studies are still needed to facilitate the applications of the advanced evaluation technologies in various industries.

This work presents a comprehensive insight into imaging technology, including the sensing principle, imaging principle and application for food quality and safety. The implementation of nanotechnology in the sensor field for rapid sensing gives impetus to the development of imaging technology based on chemo-responsive dyes. The response signal of the technology is timely and easy to be characterized by color imaging method.

Imaging technology based on chemo-responsive dyes has proved itself as a leading detection technique with no or less sample preparation, nondestructive and rapid nature. In order to break through the lack of intelligence and dexterity of imaging equipment, it has emerged to replace the camera as an imaging device for data collection. To make imaging technique more analytically useful, the trend in future will be oriented toward imaging technology based on chemo-responsive dyes combined with spectroscopy methods with higher developments for the application in the food industry.