Composition of biogenic amines in selected food products

Biogenic amines are naturally occurring amines, which play an important role in plant development and in human health. The profile and levels of bioactive amines in food products can be used as a quality index, reflecting the quality of raw materials or the hygienic conditions prevalent during processing. For these reasons, it is important to monitor biogenic amine level s in food products, in view of their importance for human health and food safety. This work reports the composition of red and white wines, yellow and green teas, cocoa powder and instat coffee in terms of biogenic amines. The amines (tryptamine, 2-phenylethylamine, putrescine, cadaverine, tyramine, histamine, spermine, spermidine and serotonine) were determined by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection after pre-column derivatization with o-phthaldialdehyde. Total amine levels in the wine samples were lower than 8 mg/L. Putrescine and tryptamine were the most prevalent amines, followed by cadaverine, tyramine and histamine. In the yellow and green teas the most prevalent amines was 2-phenylethylamine. In cocoa powder samples higher mean levels were observed for tryptamine, followed spermidine, putrescine and 2-phenylethylamine. Serotonine, tyramine and spermidine are the most abundant amines in the dry instant coffee.