Fourier transform near‐infrared and mid‐infrared spectroscopy as efficient tools for rapid screening of deoxynivalenol contamination in wheat bran

Abstract BACKGROUND Deoxynivalenol (DON) is the most common Fusarium mycotoxin occurring in wheat and wheat‐derived products, with several adverse and toxic effects in animals and humans. Although bran fractions produced by milling wheat have numerous health benefits, cereal bran is the part of the grain with the highest concentration of DON, thus representing a risk for consumers. Increased efforts have been made to develop analytical methods suitable for rapid DON screening. RESULTS The applicability of Fourier transform near‐infrared (FTNIR), or mid‐infrared (FTMIR) spectroscopy, and their combination for rapid analysis of DON in wheat bran, was investigated for the classification of samples into compliant and non‐compliant groups regarding the EU legal limit of 750 µg kg −1 . Partial least squares‐discriminant analysis (PLS‐DA) and principal component‐linear discriminant analysis (PC‐LDA) were employed as classification techniques using a cutoff value of 400 µg kg −1 DON to distinguish the two classes. Depending on the classification model, overall discrimination rates were from 87% to 91% for FTNIR and from 86% to 87% for the FTMIR spectral range. The FTNIR spectroscopy gave the highest overall classification rate of wheat bran samples, with no false compliant samples and 18% false noncompliant samples when the PC‐LDA classification model was applied. The combination of the two spectral ranges did not provide a substantial improvement in classification results in comparison with FTNIR. CONCLUSIONS Fourier transform near‐infrared spectroscopy in combination with classification models was an efficient tool to screen many DON‐contaminated wheat bran samples and assess their compliance with EU regulations. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry