Species Discrimination among Three Kinds of Puffer Fish Using an Electronic Nose Combined with Olfactory Sensory Evaluation

Species discrimination among three kinds of puffer fish, Takifugu obscurus, Takifugu flavidus and Takifugu rubripes, was conducted using an electronic nose combined with olfactory sensory evaluation. All data were treated by multivariate data processing based on principal component analysis (PCA) and discriminant factor analysis (DFA). The results showed the discriminant model by PCA method and DFA method. Using PCA and DFA, it was shown that the electronic nose was able to reasonably distinguish between each of the eleven puffer fish groups, with a discrimination index of 85. The olfactory sensory evaluation was undertaken in accordance to Sensory analysis-Methodology-Initiation and training of assessors in the detection and recognition of odors (BS ISO 5496-2006), and the results showed that the evaluation was able to identify puffer fish samples according to their species, geographical origin and age. Results from this analysis demonstrate that the E-nose can be used to complement the discrimination of odors by sensory evaluation from the three species of puffer fish studied here.