Multivariate approaches to electronic nose and PTR-TOF-MS technologies in agro-food products

Beyond the appearance of agricultural products, affecting the consumers’ choice, volatile organic compounds play a crucial role in agro-industrial processes and all food-related sciences and technologies as well as food perception and acceptability, being at the origin of its aroma and flavor. Thus, this chapter will show the multiple uses of the electronic nose and PTR–TOF–MS technologies in the agricultural field, particularly in postharvest quality control and cultivar classification, mainly focusing on applications regarding citrus fruits and dairy products and showing the potential of multivariate statistical approaches. Moreover, the PTR–TOF–MS, being capable of providing fingerprint for agro-industrial product, opening new promising fields of application in food research, thus providing key elements to improve food production processes and enhance food consumer acceptability.