Detection of fungal contamination in corn : potential of FTIR-PAS and -DRS

Evaluation of agricultural grains, such as corn, suffers from a lack of techniques that can analyze solid materials. Two techniques, photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), were coupled to a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer to provide information about the mid-infrared absorption spectra of corn. Spectra generated from corn that was infected with Fusarium moniliforme or Aspergillus flanus, two mycotoxin producers, were dramatically different from those of uninfected corn