Fast Identification of Microbiological Contamination in Vegetable Soup by Electronic Nose

Microbial contamination, either before or during food production phases, is one of the major concerns of food manufacturers. In this work we present the EOS507C Electronic Nose (EN) for early screening of Enterobacter hormaechei type strain (ATCC 49162) contamination in vegetable soup. The EOS507C, based on an array of metal oxide semiconductor (MOX) sensors, is a rather innovative system equipped with dynamic headspace autosampler and new functionalities such as real-time sample humidity compensation, sensor response linearization and automated periodic calibration. The EOS507C has provided excellent results in terms of screening capabilities: E.hormaechei contamination was detected in 24 hours.