Beyond sensitivity, what operational metric is explicitly cited as critical for the usefulness of a spoilage sensor?
Answer
Response time (time-to-detection threshold)
While high sensitivity is important for early detection, the response time of the sensor is equally critical for practical application. A sensor that accurately identifies spoilage markers but takes an excessive amount of time—for example, 24 hours—to display that information is deemed practically useless if the food degrades significantly faster, perhaps within 12 hours. Therefore, understanding the time-to-detection threshold is paramount when implementing any specific sensor technology for quality control.
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