Multidimensional Patterns of Gas Sensors for Assessing the Microbiological Indicators of Raw Milk

ABSTRACT The paper discusses methods of using chemometrics methods for processing the output data of sensors with polycomposite coatings for analyzing the gas phase of raw milk and obtaining analytical information about its total microbiological contamination, the content of yeast and mold, and the presence of pathogenic microorganisms. To predict microbiological indicators of milk quality, the partial least squares regression and quadratic discriminant analysis were used. The initial data matrix included both an optimized set of sensor output data and calculated parameters at various data fusion levels. It is shown that multidimensional patterns of sensor output data differ depending on the task. A model for predicting the microbiological contamination of milk (QMAFAnM) with an error of 0.342 log CFU was obtained. It was shown that the sensitivity of classification of milk samples by the presence or absence of pathogenic microorganisms using discriminant analysis is 67%, and the specificity is 100% when using the calculated parameters of the sensor array. The proposed approaches can be applicable for processing data from various types of sensors when analyzing real objects with complex compositions.