Detection of Aflatoxin B1 in Pistachio Kernels Using Visible/Near-Infrared Hyperspectral Imaging

Abstract

Abstract. Pistachios are susceptible to aflatoxin contamination because of their rich nutrient content. Hyperspectral imaging (HSI), a new method for collecting spectral and image information, has been successfully employed in contamination research to classify staple agricultural products, such as maize, that are contaminated with aflatoxins. However, only a few studies have been conducted on the nondestructive discrimination among contaminated nuts using HSI for both qualitative and quantitative purposes. Thus, the feasibility of directly detecting aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in individual pistachio kernels using visible/near-infrared HSI (VNIR HSI) was explored in this study. A total of 300 pistachio kernels were randomly selected to prepare target samples that were artificially contaminated with 5, 10, 20, 30, or 50 ppb (parts per billion) of AFB1. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed an overall separation trend between the control and all contaminated kernels. Accuracies greater than 90.0% were obtained by linear discriminant analysis (LDA) for samples that were artificially contaminated with different concentrations of AFB1 based on spectra at 694 to 988 nm that had been preprocessed with standard normal variate (SNV) and Savitzky-Golay (SG) smoothing. The correlation coefficients of calibration and validation (rc and rv) from stepwise multiple linear regression (SMLR) models were all >0.9100. Moreover, five key wavelengths (708, 771, 892, 915, and 941 nm) closely associated with AFB1 contamination were identified using principal component spectra analysis. Generally, the results indicated that VNIR HSI could be employed for preliminary screening of pistachio kernels that were artificially contaminated with AFB1, even at the 5 ppb level. However, the quantitative prediction of the specific AFB1 concentration needed to be further improved. Keywords: Aflatoxins, Detection analysis, Hyperspectral information, Pistachios, Visible/near-infrared.