Measurement and differentiation of banana juice scent using an electronic nose FF-2A

BACKGROUND: Banana juice is becoming a popular beverage in Japan and the number of soft-drink stands or shops that take great care and pride in the quality of their products has been increasing. This study aims to measure the scent of banana juice from different brands using the electronic (e-) nose FF-2A in order to identify the characteristics, time-related changes, and the differences among them. METHODS: We standardized the scent value of banana juice measured using FF-2A and determined the absolute value in three different shops. We compared the similarities in samples from each shop with axis data created using standardized measurement. With FF-2A we identified the scent common to all banana juice samples from the composite scent and numerically showed the similarity to the reference gas. RESULTS: The juices from each shop had their own characteristics and we were able to identify the difference between some of these. The response of FF-2A varied according to the increase/decrease in the number of characteristic molecules measured by GC-MS such as overtime fluctuations in the gas. These data were shown along with the differences between the various banana juices. CONCLUSIONS: FF-2A was able to identify the scent of banana juice at each banana shop as well as time-related changes. By combining GC-MS, we were able to evaluate scent components that changed over time. The results using the electronic nose may prove useful for objective evaluation and comparison of scent with other types of juices.