Biogenic amines in fish and soy sauces

Abstract.

Biogenic amines were determined in 45 commercial fish sauces from the Far East by RP-HPLC with pre-column derivatization and fluorometric detection. The sauces were found to contain the following compounds in concentrations (mg kg^–1) given in parentheses: 0–195 for methylamine, 2–339 for ethylamine, 0–729 for histamine, 0–1178 for tyramine, 0–588 for tryptamine, 0–251 for phenylethylamine, 0–1257 for putrescine, and 0–1429 for cadaverine. Because the production process is based on the autolytic degradation of the fish protein, the formation of biogenic amines cannot be totally avoided. However, the content and composition of biogenic amines in fish sauces can be seen as a quality indicator. Furthermore, 23 soy sauces were investigated. An extremely high amine content was found in only one sauce (in total about 6000 mg kg^–1). In soy sauces, the biogenic amine composition and content differs considerably. High tyramine content is connected with high contents of putrescine and cadaverine, probably due to poor hygienic conditions during production. With one exception, the amine concentrations of all analyzed soy sauces were far below those levels causing a health risk.