QC Testing – Packaging and Industrial Chemicals

Rapid “sniff” tests for quality control (QC) are performed with the Cyranose® 320 and MSEM 160. Sensigent’s eNose QC tests provide rapid screening of products for conformance (pass/fail, accept/reject) in just a few seconds while eliminating concerns for personal safety when sniffing potentially harmful substances. Tests are performed in the QC laboratory, at the production line, in the warehouse prior to shipping, on-site at a customer’s facility or wherever needed.

QC test samples include plastics and packaging materials (for residual odors, screening before or after recycling), bulk or retail packaged chemicals and industrial products and many other materials. Even shrink-wrapped and palletized bulk products can be screened to check for packaging leaks before shipping. Common tests are to confirm the proper aroma (for scented products), detect off-odors or contamination (for unscented products), quantify the aroma or odor level and to compare the intensity and character to scores from sensory panels for both the intensity and tone.

Screening with the eNose improves throughput and reduces cost for routine tests. Products that fail or are rejected by the eNose may be set aside for confirmation by sensory panels (human sniffers) or analytical instruments (GC-MS, HPLC, FTIR) to identify specific issues. Utilizing examples of “bad” or “off-spec” products in the eNose QC library, e.g., too much citrus, too little mint, no aroma at all, allows the eNose to quickly identify and report the reason a test sample was rejected, which aids investigations for root cause and speeds corrective action for formulation and production adjustments.