Abstract
Fourier-transform-near infrared (FT-NIR) spectroscopy has been used to develop quantitative and classification models for the prediction of deoxynivalenol (DON) levels in durum wheat samples. Partial least-squares (PLS) regression analysis was used to determine DON in wheat samples in the range of <50–16,000 µg/kg DON. The model displayed a large root mean square error of prediction value (1,977 µg/kg) as compared to the EU maximum limit for DON in unprocessed durum wheat (i.e., 1,750 µg/kg), thus making the PLS approach unsuitable for quantitative prediction of DON in durum wheat. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) was successfully used to differentiate wheat samples based on their DON content. A first approach used LDA to group wheat samples into three classes: A (DON ≤ 1,000 µg/kg), B (1,000 < DON ≤ 2,500 µg/kg), and C (DON > 2,500 µg/kg) (LDA I). A second approach was used to discriminate highly contaminated wheat samples based on three different cut-off limits, namely 1,000 (LDA II), 1,200 (LDA III) and 1,400 µg/kg DON (LDA IV). The overall classification and false compliant rates for the three models were 75%–90% and 3%–7%, respectively, with model LDA IV using a cut-off of 1,400 µg/kg fulfilling the requirement of the European official guidelines for screening methods. These findings confirmed the suitability of FT-NIR to screen a large number of wheat samples for DON contamination and to verify the compliance with EU regulation.
Highlights
Deoxynivalenol (DON), known as vomitoxin, is a type B trichothecene mycotoxin
The positive skewness and kurtosis values of DON concentrations indicated that the number of highly-contaminated wheat samples was less than that of wheat samples with no or low values of DON contamination, there was an approximately fifty-fifty distribution of DON levels around the EU maximum limit (ML) for unprocessed durum wheat (1,750 μg/kg); in particular, 57% of the tested samples contained DON levels less than ML, whereas the remaining 43% of samples exceed this threshold
Wheat samples were analyzed by Fourier-transform-near infrared (FT-NIR) spectroscopy, and spectra were recorded as absorbance between 10,000–4,000 cm−1
Summary
Deoxynivalenol (DON), known as vomitoxin, is a type B trichothecene mycotoxin. It is one of the major secondary metabolites produced by fungi of the Fusarium genus, mainly Fusarium graminearum and Fusarium culmorum, and occurs predominantly in grains, such as wheat, maize, barley, oats and rye [1]. DON inhibits the synthesis of DNA, RNA and proteins and has a hemolytic effect on erythrocytes. In order to protect consumers from exposure to DON through the consumption of cereal-based food products, the European Commission has set maximum permitted levels for DON ranging from 200 μg/kg for processed cereal-based food for infants and young children up to 1,750 μg/kg for unprocessed durum wheat, maize and oats [7]
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