Instrumental methods (spectroscopy, electronic nose, and tongue) as tools to predict taste and aroma in beverages: Advantages and limitations

The human senses have always been used to assess food quality. Although the senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch are used daily in all aspects of our lives, their analytical applications to evaluate food properties are relatively recent. The sensory systems of Homo sapiens are the product of millions of years of evolution where natural selection has resulted in our capacity to detect a wide range of compounds present in the environment, advantageous to our survival, allowing hedonistic evaluation of the environment. Existing analytical methods used to measure wine and alcoholic beverages composition and quality are not adequate for the demands of production in a global market due to their high cost and slow turnaround time. In the last 20 years increasing interest on the use of rapid screening techniques or instrumental methods to determine quality characteristics of foods and beverages has been of great interest to the food industry.