The Application of State-of-the-Art Analytic Tools (Biosensors and Spectroscopy) in Beverage and Food Fermentation Process Monitoring

The production of several agricultural products and foods are linked with fermentation. Traditional methods used to control and monitor the quality of the products and processes are based on the use of simple chemical analysis. However, these methods are time-consuming and do not provide sufficient relevant information to guarantee the chemical changes during the process. Commonly used methods applied in the agriculture and food industries to monitor fermentation are those based on simple or single-point sensors, where only one parameter is measured (e.g., temperature or density). These sensors are used several times per day and are often the only source of data available from which the conditions and rate of fermentation are monitored. In the modern food industry, an ideal method to control and monitor the fermentation process should enable a direct, rapid, precise, and accurate determination of several target compounds, with minimal to no sample preparation or reagent consumption. Here, state-of-the-art advancements in both the application of sensors and analytical tools to monitor beverage and food fermentation processes will be discussed.