Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Food and Feed Safety Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #344930
Research Project: Use of Classical and Molecular Technologies for Developing Aflatoxin Resistance in Crops

Location: Food and Feed Safety Research

Title: Recent development of optical methods in rapid and non-destructive detection of aflatoxin and fungal contamination in agricultural products

Author
item TAO, FEIFEI - Mississippi State University
item YAO, HAIBO - Mississippi State University
item HRUSKA, ZUZANA - Mississippi State University
item BURGER, LOREN - Mississippi State University
item RAJASEKARAN, KANNIAH - Rajah
item BHATNAGAR, DEEPAK

Submitted to: Trends in Analytical Chemistry
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/3/2018
Publication Date: 1/3/2018
Citation: Tao, F., Yao, H., Hruska, Z., Burger, L.W., Rajasekaran, K., Bhatnagar, D. 2018. Recent development of optical methods in rapid and non-destructive detection of aflatoxin and fungal contamination in agricultural products. Trends in Analytical Chemistry. 100:65-81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trac.2017.12.017.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Aflatoxins are a group of highly toxic secondary metabolites produced predominantly by Aspergillus fungi. Aflatoxin and aflatoxigenic contamination can occur in a wide variety of agricultural products during both pre- and post-harvest conditions, posing potential severe hazards to human health. However, current methods for detection of aflatoxin contamination and fungal infection are mainly based on wet chemical analysis and classical microbiological techniques, which are generally expensive, time-consuming, destructive to the test samples and require skilled personnel to perform, making them impossible for large-scale non-destructive screening, detection, or integration in an on-line sorting and production system. In this context, the great necessity of developing rapid and non-destructive techniques for aflatoxin contamination and fungal infection in foods has been highlighted. Measurement techniques based on fluorescence spectroscopy (FS), near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and hyperspectral imaging (HSI) have provided interesting and promising results for detecting aflatoxin contamination and/or fungal infection in a variety of foods. As such, the main goal of this article is to give an overview of the current research progress in application of FS, NIRS and HSI techniques in rapid and non-destructive detection of aflatoxin contamination and fungal infection in different varieties of agricultural products, including corn, rice, wheat, peanuts, almonds, pistachio nuts, dried figs, dried dates, chili peppers, etc. These techniques are described in terms of their working principles, features and application advantages in detecting aflatoxins and fungal contamination. The research advances of each technique applied in different varieties of agricultural products are reviewed and the results obtained from different studies are compared and discussed. In addition, perspectives on their future trends and challenges are also addressed.