Introduction

Device for non destructive sampling of aroma from a food product undergoing cured process (ham, cheese, …) via a minimally invasive procedure. The volatile sample is caught and stored into the FLUTE chamber. From this chamber it can be delivered in whatever instruments for the analysis of food aroma.

Technical features

The traditional procedure used by manufacturer to monitor the curing process is performed by the  insertion of a sort of awl (typically carved from a horse bone) into a critical region near the ham bone, in the larger part of pig leg. The awl, used to extract chemicals from the inside of the ham (as example of cured food product) ,  is olfactively probed by an expert panellist, immediately after its extraction from the ham. FLUTE include an awl, identical to the one used in the above mentioned procedure, which can be extracted and inserted into the food product without environemntal contamination. When reyracted inside th FLUTE chamber it contains the aroma information which can be transferred inside whatever instrument for the offline analysis.

Possible Applications

• Shelf life;
• Food quality;
• Traceability;
• Counteraction of adulteration;
• Monitoring of curing processes.

Advantages

• Minimally invasive;
• Non destructive food monitoring;
• Fast, cheap and easy;
• General purpose for many different cured food products;
• Versatile;
• Can be interfaced with many different instruments for the analysis of the aroma.