Electronic Tongues for Inedible Media

Abstract

“Electronic tongues”, “taste sensors”, and similar devices (further named as “multisensor systems”, or MSS) have been studied and applied mostly for the analysis of edible analytes. This is not surprising, since the MSS development was sometimes inspired by the mainstream idea that they could substitute human gustatory tests. However, the basic principle behind multisensor systems—a combination of an array of cross-sensitive chemical sensors for liquid analysis and a machine learning engine for multivariate data processing—does not imply any limitations on the application of such systems for the analysis of inedible media. This review deals with the numerous MSS applications for the analysis of inedible analytes, among other things, for agricultural and medical purposes.