Artificial olfactory system for the classification of Iberian hams

An array of semiconductor sensors has been tested as an artificial olfactory system for the classification of Iberian hams. Iberian hams can be classified into different types: Montanera hams and Pienso hams according to the rearing system. The multisensor is composed by 15 sensing elements formed by tin oxide thin layers deposited by rf reactive sputtering. Hams were analysed by using two sampling methods: static headspace generation and purge and trap method. The extraction conditions have been optimised for both methods. A good discrimination of the two types of Iberian ham has been obtained through the statistical method of principal component analysis (PCA). (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.