Smart systems for food quality and safety

Microsystems can provide a wide range of technological solutions to make food safer and of better quality, and can contribute to convenience, shelf life, and freshness. The systems involve at least one component built by microtechnologies or nanotechnologies. The "FoodMicroSystems" project has developed roadmaps on three application sectors, food and beverage sector, meat sector and dairy sector, and on the key microsystem technology areas. The chapter presents some technologies to solve some of the more urgent problems in the dairy sector. Moreover, these technologies will also be used for the analysis of different foods. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used for visualizing the internal structure, phase separation, component distribution, rheology and basic structure, and composition of dairy food. Some gas sensing systems are available in the market for environmental, industrial safety, and other niche applications. E-nose systems, which are based on gas devices, could be adapted to the food and beverage process monitoring.