Application of ion chromatography for the determination of biogenic amines in food samples

Abstract

Ion chromatography procedure for the simultaneous determination of histamine, tyramine, phenylethylamine, cadaverine and putrescine in different food samples is described. The simple procedure based on isocratic elution, 5 mM HNO3 without organic modifier as mobile phase and conductometric detection without suppression was proposed and discussed in details. The linearity of the tested procedure was between 0.5–5 and 5–100 mg/L, average recoveries for the standard solutions of amines varied between 98–100%, whereas in standard addition method between 96–99%, that indicated acceptable accuracy of the discussed method. The satisfactory reproducibility was proved by values of coefficient of variations (CV) in the range 0.2–5.0% for all tested food samples. The proposed method reveals a number of advantages: fast elution of analytes without mobile phase conductivity suppression, lack of derivatization step, simple sample preparation and environmentally friendly character.