Intelligent Electrochemical Sensing: A New Frontier in On-the-Fly Coffee Quality Assessment

Quality control is mandatory in the food industry and chemical sensors play a crucial role in this field. Coffee is one of the most consumed and commercialized food products globally, and its quality is of the utmost importance. Many scientific papers have analyzed coffee quality using different app...

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Main Authors: Simone Grasso, Maria Vittoria Di Loreto, Alessandro Zompanti, Davide Ciarrocchi, Laura De Gara, Giorgio Pennazza, Luca Vollero, Marco Santonico
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-01-01
Series:Chemosensors
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9040/13/1/24
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author Simone Grasso
Maria Vittoria Di Loreto
Alessandro Zompanti
Davide Ciarrocchi
Laura De Gara
Giorgio Pennazza
Luca Vollero
Marco Santonico
author_facet Simone Grasso
Maria Vittoria Di Loreto
Alessandro Zompanti
Davide Ciarrocchi
Laura De Gara
Giorgio Pennazza
Luca Vollero
Marco Santonico
author_sort Simone Grasso
collection DOAJ
description Quality control is mandatory in the food industry and chemical sensors play a crucial role in this field. Coffee is one of the most consumed and commercialized food products globally, and its quality is of the utmost importance. Many scientific papers have analyzed coffee quality using different approaches, such as analytical and sensor analyses, which, despite their good performance, are limited to structured lab implementation. This study aims to evaluate the capability of a smart electrochemical sensor to discriminate among different beverages prepared using coffee beans with different moisture content (0%, 2%, >4%) and ground in three sizes (fine, medium and coarse). These parameters reflect real scenarios where coffee is produced and its quality influenced. The possibility of optimizing coffee quality in real time by tuning these parameters could open the way to intelligent coffee machines. A specific experimental setup has been designed, and the data has been analyzed using machine learning techniques. The results obtained from Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Partial Least Square Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) show the sensor’s capability to distinguish between samples of different quality, with a percentage of correct classification of 86.6%. This performance underscores the potential benefits of this sensor for coffee quality assessment, enabling time and resource savings, while facilitating the development of analytical methods based on smart electrochemical sensors.
format Article
id doaj-art-5084f15963c344d78ae3022bd2a86527
institution Kabale University
issn 2227-9040
language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Chemosensors
spelling doaj-art-5084f15963c344d78ae3022bd2a865272025-01-24T13:26:55ZengMDPI AGChemosensors2227-90402025-01-011312410.3390/chemosensors13010024Intelligent Electrochemical Sensing: A New Frontier in On-the-Fly Coffee Quality AssessmentSimone Grasso0Maria Vittoria Di Loreto1Alessandro Zompanti2Davide Ciarrocchi3Laura De Gara4Giorgio Pennazza5Luca Vollero6Marco Santonico7Unit of Electronic for Sensor Systems, Department of Sciences and Technologies for Sustainable Development and One Health, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Via Alvaro del Portillo 21, 00128 Rome, ItalyUnit of Electronic for Sensor Systems, Department of Sciences and Technologies for Sustainable Development and One Health, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Via Alvaro del Portillo 21, 00128 Rome, ItalyUnit of Electronic for Sensor Systems, Department of Engineering, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Via Alvaro del Portillo 21, 00128 Rome, ItalyUnit of Electronic for Sensor Systems, Department of Sciences and Technologies for Sustainable Development and One Health, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Via Alvaro del Portillo 21, 00128 Rome, ItalyUnit of Food and Nutrition Sciences, Department of Sciences and Technologies for Sustainable Development and One Health, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Via Alvaro del Portillo 21, 00128 Rome, ItalyUnit of Electronic for Sensor Systems, Department of Engineering, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Via Alvaro del Portillo 21, 00128 Rome, ItalyUnit of Computational Systems and Bioinformatics, Department of Engineering, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Via Alvaro del Portillo 21, 00128 Rome, ItalyUnit of Electronic for Sensor Systems, Department of Sciences and Technologies for Sustainable Development and One Health, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Via Alvaro del Portillo 21, 00128 Rome, ItalyQuality control is mandatory in the food industry and chemical sensors play a crucial role in this field. Coffee is one of the most consumed and commercialized food products globally, and its quality is of the utmost importance. Many scientific papers have analyzed coffee quality using different approaches, such as analytical and sensor analyses, which, despite their good performance, are limited to structured lab implementation. This study aims to evaluate the capability of a smart electrochemical sensor to discriminate among different beverages prepared using coffee beans with different moisture content (0%, 2%, >4%) and ground in three sizes (fine, medium and coarse). These parameters reflect real scenarios where coffee is produced and its quality influenced. The possibility of optimizing coffee quality in real time by tuning these parameters could open the way to intelligent coffee machines. A specific experimental setup has been designed, and the data has been analyzed using machine learning techniques. The results obtained from Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Partial Least Square Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) show the sensor’s capability to distinguish between samples of different quality, with a percentage of correct classification of 86.6%. This performance underscores the potential benefits of this sensor for coffee quality assessment, enabling time and resource savings, while facilitating the development of analytical methods based on smart electrochemical sensors.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9040/13/1/24food analysiscoffee qualitypolyphenols contentantioxidant activityelectrochemical sensorcyclic voltammetry
spellingShingle Simone Grasso
Maria Vittoria Di Loreto
Alessandro Zompanti
Davide Ciarrocchi
Laura De Gara
Giorgio Pennazza
Luca Vollero
Marco Santonico
Intelligent Electrochemical Sensing: A New Frontier in On-the-Fly Coffee Quality Assessment
Chemosensors
food analysis
coffee quality
polyphenols content
antioxidant activity
electrochemical sensor
cyclic voltammetry
title Intelligent Electrochemical Sensing: A New Frontier in On-the-Fly Coffee Quality Assessment
title_full Intelligent Electrochemical Sensing: A New Frontier in On-the-Fly Coffee Quality Assessment
title_fullStr Intelligent Electrochemical Sensing: A New Frontier in On-the-Fly Coffee Quality Assessment
title_full_unstemmed Intelligent Electrochemical Sensing: A New Frontier in On-the-Fly Coffee Quality Assessment
title_short Intelligent Electrochemical Sensing: A New Frontier in On-the-Fly Coffee Quality Assessment
title_sort intelligent electrochemical sensing a new frontier in on the fly coffee quality assessment
topic food analysis
coffee quality
polyphenols content
antioxidant activity
electrochemical sensor
cyclic voltammetry
url https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9040/13/1/24
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AT alessandrozompanti intelligentelectrochemicalsensinganewfrontierinontheflycoffeequalityassessment
AT davideciarrocchi intelligentelectrochemicalsensinganewfrontierinontheflycoffeequalityassessment
AT lauradegara intelligentelectrochemicalsensinganewfrontierinontheflycoffeequalityassessment
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