Review of mid-infrared Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy applications for bacterial detection

Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) methods enable chemical discrimination of intact bacterial cells and produce complex whole-organism biochemical fingerprints (spectra), which are reproducible and distinct for different bacteria. Numerous researchers indicate that there is great potential for using FT-IR methods in combination with multivariate statistics (chemometrics) to detect and identify bacteria in water, culture media and foods. This article presents a review of the FT-IR techniques, sample preparation procedures and experimental conditions used in these studies, as well as advantages, disadvantages and challenges that remain for the development of FT-IR detection methods.