Application of hyperspectral imaging to detect toxigenic Fusarium infection on cornmeal

One of the most important food safety issues is the detection of mycotoxins, the ubiquitous, natural contaminants in cereals. Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) is a new method in food science, it can be used to predict non-destructively the changes in composition and distribution of compounds. That is why, in the last decade, the potential of HSI has been evaluated in many fields of food science, including mycotoxin research.The aim of the recent study was to test the feasibility of HSI for the differentiation according to the toxin content of cornmeal samples inoculated with Fusarium graminearum, Fusarium verticillioides and Fusarium culmorum and samples with natural levels of mycotoxins. Samples were measured in the near infrared wavelength range of 900–1,700 nm and mean spectra of selected regions of interest of each image were pre-treated using Savitzky-Golay smoothing and standard normal variate (SNV) method. On the spectra, partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) was carried out according to the level of contamination. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) method was used to predict deoxynivalenol (DON) content of samples and the cumulative toxin content: the sum of fumonisins (FB1, FB2) and DON content of samples. Based on the promising results of the study, HSI has the potential to be used as a preliminary testing method for mycotoxin content in feed materials.