The effect of fungal species on the fluorescent lectin test

Fungal (mold) contamination is an important indicator of low-quality raw product used in food processing operations. Fluorescent-labeled lectins, specific for chitin, have been shown to be valuable for quantitative detection of mold in raw tomatoes. In this research, the response of individual fungal species to a rapid fluorescent lectin assay was investigated. Ten of the most common mold species were grown on two types of artificial broth media, and added to blended field tomatoes. The assay was conducted on each species, and linear regressions were developed, comparing the fluorescent lectin assay score with the fungal dry weight. The assay was able to detect all molds at sensitivities required for the tomato industry, and had high linearity (r2 ranging from 0.72 to 0.99) and low variability (standard error of calibration ranging from 20 to 116 microg of fungal biomass/ml of tomato juice) for individual species grown on V-8 juice broth.