Abstract
A new method was proposed for the determination of underivatized biogenic amines based on ion-exchange chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry detection. The method was applied to the analysis of 10 biogenic amines in fresh and processed fish products. The amines were extracted from muscle tissue with water without any additional derivative step or sample clean-up. Separation of biogenic amines was done by the IonPac (4 × 50 mm) column, applying a gradient eluent by mixing formic acid (2 mol L−1) and Milli-Q water (formic acid concentration from 400 mM to 2 M). The results demonstrated a linear response in the range of 0.01 to 10 mg L−1. The detection limits for the fish products ranged from 20 ng/g up to around 400 ng/g for histamine and putrescine, respectively. Spermidine and spermine showed significantly higher detection limits. This current method can be used for the determination of biogenic amines in both fresh and processed fish products for regulatory purposes and monitoring food-safety issues relating to these amines, particularly histamine. It is also a useful method for evaluation of other commercial analytical test kits and commonly used methods that are possibly affected by the food matrix due to processing or other drawbacks arising from the derivatization process.
Highlights
The interest in the determination of biogenic amines (BAs) in fresh and processed foods is growing due to their toxicity, and due to the levels of BAs in food products often being considered as a marker of spoilage during storage or ripening, and a quality index [1,2]
This paper describes a method that is capable of simultaneous determination of 10 BAs, namely agmatine (AGM), CAD, HIS, PUT, TYR, PHE, spermidine (SPMD), spermine (SPM), trimethylamine (TMA), and tryptamine (TRT)
The main objective of this study was the development of a reliable ion-chromatographic method for the accurate determination of the main BAs present in fresh fish and processed fish products
Summary
The interest in the determination of biogenic amines (BAs) in fresh and processed foods is growing due to their toxicity, and due to the levels of BAs in food products often being considered as a marker of spoilage during storage or ripening, and a quality index [1,2]. The amount of BAs in the products varies and is closely related to the types of available free amino acids, the presence of BA forming bacteria, and the conditions for microbial activity such as suitable time/temperature, pH, and water activity. The most frequent kind of food intoxication relating to BAs is histamine poisoning, previously known as “scombroid fish poisoning” due to its first involvement being reported from Scombridae family such as tuna. The secondary amines such as putrescine (PUT) and cadaverine (CAD) play an important role in food poisoning, as they can increase the toxicity of histamine (HIS) or react with nitrites to form carcinogenic nitrosamines
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