Each year, mycotoxins cause economic losses of several billion US dollars worldwide. Consequently, methods must be developed, for producers and cereal manufacturers, to detect these toxins and to comply with regulations. Chromatographic reference methods are time consuming and costly. Thus, alternative methods such as infrared spectroscopy are being increasingly developed to provide simple, rapid, and nondestructive methods to detect mycotoxins. This article reviews research conducted over the last eight years into the use of near-infrared and mid-infrared spectroscopy to monitor mycotoxins in corn, wheat, and barley. More specifically, we focus on the Fusarium species and on the main fusariotoxins of deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, and fumonisin B1 and B2. Quantification models are insufficiently precise to satisfy the legal requirements. Sorting models with cutoff levels are the most promising applications.
Keywords: Fusarium; MIR; NIR; infrared spectroscopy; mycotoxins.