Bakery products and electronic nose

The development of aroma in bakery products is due to a large number of volatile compounds resulting from enzymatic activity, fermentation, lipid oxidation and thermal reactions during processing. In this chapter, the main electronic nose (e-nose) applications in bakery products, raw materials and cereal grains are reviewed, as related to the main factors contributing to the formation, modification and composition of volatile compounds in bakery products. Different types of e-nose systems have been used to monitor and discriminate aroma compounds from different flours and ingredients, processing operations (such as baking), ageing and storage conditions. A greater number of e-nose applications are focused on the rapid discrimination of volatile compounds for early detection of microbial spoilage, being also associated to the presence of mycotoxins. Reported results prove that e-nose can be a rapid and sensitive mean for evaluating different quality aspects of bakery products and cereal grains.