LC/MS/MS analysis of biogenic amines in foods and beverages

Biogenic amines are a group of biologically active organic compounds produced by decarboxylation of free amino acids. They are found in bacterially contaminated food, particularly in fish, and are therefore potential quality indicators. Histamine is the main causative agent in scombroid fish poisoning. Other biogenic amines are also of interest as their presence enhances the toxicity of histamine. Biogenic amines can also react with nitrites to form potentially carcinogenic nitrosamines. Analysis by traditional RPLC is difficult because of poor retention. Derivatization methods are time consuming, ion-pairing agents can inhibit LC/MS analyses, and both can adversely affect method reproducibility. In this study we have investigated HILIC and fluorinated packing materials for the analysis of a wide range of biogenic amines, namely: histamine, cadaverine, 2-phenylethylamine, putrescine, serotonin, spermidine, spermine, tryptophan, tryptamine, tyramine and urocanic acid. The Pinnacle\uae DB PFPP works well with 0.05% trifluoroacetic acid for all of these amines with detection limits in the low ppb range. Over 200 different food and beverage samples have been tested in triplicate injections for reproducibility and robustness of this new method. This method was also applied to a study of how time and storage conditions affected concentrations of these biogenic amines in fish.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye