Abstract: This paper analysed the electronic nose features of smell carefully to imitate animal and human on structure. Furthermore the recognition principle of electronic nose was also studied. The applications of electronic nose for food quality appraise-ment of sense organs, grade assessment, classification recognition, ingredient detection, fresh keeping storage and, process monitorand control were discussed in detail. Finally, the application prospects of artificial intelligence and data fusion technique inelectronic nose were visualized.

Key words: sense of smell, electronic nose, pattern recognition, data fusion, artificial intelligence