Could ‘digital nose’ smell out problems on the farm?
There may be agricultural applications for a “digital nose” developed by a French company.
Certainly, there is scope to reduce food wastage by using this technology, which can tell you, for example, if something stored in your refrigerator is going bad.
If the Aryballe company could train it to smell out bad silage, for example, there could be uses in agriculture.
But Aryballe is primarily aiming its digital olfaction technology inititally at the cosmetics, food, and automotive industries.
Their products include a sensor-based hand-held unit called NeOse Pro, and investors who contributed €6.2 million to its development include the Hyundai Motor Company
One of its uses in the car industry is to check for the typical “new car smell”, which is what western buyers want, but which Chinese buyers associate with hazardous chemicals used in carmaking. Chinese consumers prefer zero odour in their new car.
D-1 for CES ! We're getting ready to welcome our partners to discuss about odor detection technologies. Let's think about the future of automotive, food and cosmetic together ! pic.twitter.com/alO6pflgA1
— Aryballe (@aryballe) January 7, 2019
Aryballe’s technology is also used in the cosmetics industry, to verify the quality of raw materials.
For example, it has been used for testing vanillin for authenticity.
The device was able to differentiate between four different types of vanillin, the ingredient that gives vanilla its flavour.
The largest uses of vanillin are as a flavouring, usually in sweet foods, and in cosmetics.
Another possible use in the food industry for digital olfaction technology is automatically turning off a cooker when the smell indicates the food is ready, in baking, for example.
