Abstract
This study focused on the feasibility and stability of electronic nose in differentiating kiwi fruit according to geographical origin. Ninety kiwi fruit samples with protected designation of origin were collected from Hunan, Shaanxi, and Sichuan Provinces of China respectively. The freeze-dried kiwi fruit samples were analyzed by a PEN3 portable electronic nose coupled with pattern recognition techniques. The stability of traceability based on this method was also investigated. The difference analysis results indicated that kiwi fruit samples from different regions had their unique aroma compounds fingerprint characteristics. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed a good visualization of clusters between regions, and freeze-dried samples (before or after storage) from the three areas were successfully identified by stepwise discriminant analysis (SLDA) and soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA). Therefore, it was acceptable that the electronic nose is cost-effective, practical and could be used as a potential technology for protecting or authenticating specialty agricultural products and geographical indication. But its stability for tracing needs to be further enhanced.
