Biogenic amines in seafood

Abstract

Biogenic amines are aliphatic or hetrocylic organic bases of low molecular weight formed in foods by the bacterial decarboxylation of three amino acids. Important biogenic amines found in fish are histamine,purtrescine, cadaverine,tyramine, spermine and spermidine. Biogenic amines are generally either psychoactive or vascoactive. Their presence in fish usually does not represent any hazard to individuals unless large amounts are ingested or the natural mechanism for catabolism of one of the amines is inhibited.Histamine is mainly formed in certain fish species like mackerel, herring, tuna, sardines and anchovies. At the borderline of organloleptic acceptability,the histamine content of raw mackerel varied from 1-6 mg. 100g and raw herring from 5-10 mg.100g.Incidents of histamine poisoning after eating fish are mainly due to poor quality of the raw material or poor processing. The presence of histamine is considered to be a quality indicator or spoilage indicator, because it occurs in negligible amount in fresh fish and increases upon spoilage. It is heat stable and non-volatile. HPLC, TLC and spectrophotometric methods are used for the determination of biogenic amines especially histamine. Quality criteria with respect to the presence of histamine and other biogenic amines in fishery products are necessary from a toxicological point of view as well as from technological point of view. In this paper , the mechanism of formation of biogenic amines, their significance in seafood, different methods of estimation and permitted levels are presented.