Determination of biogenic amines in selected Malaysian food

The biogenic amines tryptamine (TRP), putrescine (PUT), histamine (HIS), tyramine (TYR) and spermidine (SPD) were determined in 62 selected food items commonly consumed in Malaysia. This include the local appetisers “budu” and “cincalok”, canned fish, salt-cured fish, meat products, fruit juice, canned vegetables/fruits and soy bean products. After the aqueous extraction, the samples were derivatised with dansyl chloride before analysing using reversed phase HPLC with UV detection. Mean levels of TRP, PUT, HIS, TYR and SPD in eight budu samples were 82.7, 38.1, 187.7, 174.7 and 5.1 mg kg−1, respectively. The main biogenic amines found in cincalok were PUT, HIS and TYR where the mean values were 330.7, 126.1 and 448.8 mg kg−1, respectively. With the exception of “pekasam” and “belacan”, significantly lower levels of biogenic amines were found in canned fish and salt-cured fish samples. Non detectable or low levels of biogenic amines were found in meat, fruit juice and canned vegetables/fruit samples.