Application of an electronic nose to detection of aflatoxins in corn

摘要

Aflatoxins are a group of toxic compounds produced by the secondary metabolism of toxigenic fungi, mainly of the Aspergillus genus. The occurrence of these toxins is frequent in food commodities, including cereals for human and animal consumption. Because of the highly heterogeneous distribution of aflatoxins in contaminated alimentary matrices, the availability of rapid and cost-effective analytical methods, which enable high sample throughput from the same lot, is urgently needed. From this point of view, the electronic nose appears to be a promising technology characterized by the required features. Previous experience (Cheli et al. 2007) has demonstrated that the electronic nose was able to distinguish between aflatoxins in natural contaminated corn samples according to the presence and absence of toxins. The aim of the present study was to confirm previous outcomes and to verify whether the capability of the electronic nose to detect aflatoxins could be due to an indirect recognition of the association of toxins with a pattern of volatile compounds from fungi metabolism or whether aflatoxins alone could be directly considered as a detectable marker.