Electronic nose finds favour at truffle festival

Italian rural life is ahead of the game when it comes to electronic noses. While big manufacturers debate their potential for food packaging, a small town in Piedmont, Italy has embraced them wholeheartedly.

This year, shoppers at the annual Alba truffle fair used electronic odour analysers to find the best truffles on offer. Autumn prices are so high - wholesale prices reached £1,400 per kilo last week, with retail prices double that - that even some of London's top restaurants are not buying.

So, to make sure buyers would not be conned, Alba's tourist agency offered them the use of electronic noses. The device's 15 sensors each pick up a different fragrance - for example garlic and moist earth - and compare it to the calibration for a 'perfect' truffle.

But the nose has been rejected by truffle experts. A truffle factory in Alba, called TartufLanghe, told Silicon.com that the nose is little more than a gimmick for tourists. "We are far too busy distributing to external markets to be concerned by electronic noses," said one manufacturer.

Wholesale truffle buyers agreed. Rudi Venerandi, proprietor of London's Alba truffle restaurant, commented: "Truffles change their smell with the season, and each local truffle smells different. This device is part of a wave of electronic tricks."

Venerandi claimed truffle vendors outside Alba have developed artificial truffle smells to spray on their produce, to imitate the Alba smell. "Given that level of expertise, I'm sure the device could work," he said, "but it is probably just a gimmick."