Quantitative analysis of biogenic amines in raw and processed foods of animal origin on Korean domestic market

This study was performed to examine the levels of biogenic amines (BAs) in foods of animal origin such as egg, ham, sausage, milk, cheese and yoghurt distributed on Korean domestic markets, and to compare the results with those of western countries. Egg yolk had more BAs than egg white. BAs detected in ham samples were the highest level in barbecued tender loin ham. Sausage samples had less BAs than ham samples. However, the delicatessen sausages had significantly higher levels of histamine than the other sausage samples (p<0.001). Cadaverine, spermidine and spermine were detected in market milks and their concentrations were very low compared with other samples. In Cheddar cheese, tyramine (44.46±0.83 μ/g) was the major BA. The major BA of stirred yoghurt samples was histamine. These results suggest that BAs of the foods of animal origin distributed on Korean domestic markets were not much different from those of western countries and would not cause any harmful effect to consumers.