Optimisation of a chromatographic procedure for determining biogenic amine concentrations in meat and meat products employing a cation-exchange column with a post-column system

The aim of this study was to optimise and validate a chromatographic method for determining biogenic amine (BA) in meat and meat products separated by a cation-exchange column with a post-column system, using o-phthalaldehyde as a derivatising reagent. A perfect separation of nine BA (tyramine, histamine, β-phenylethylamine, putrescine, cadaverine, tryptamine, agmatine, spermidine and spermine) was obtained in 22 min. The conditions were: column Tª 40 °C and coil Tª 45 °C, pump flow rate 0.8 mL/min, pH phase A 6.33, B 5.63 and C 13.00. The method was adjusted linearly in a range of 0.10–12 mg/L with a correlation coefficient superior to 0.998. Detection and quantification limits were between 0.03–0.10 mg/L and 0.10–0.20 mg/L, respectively. Precision studies were satisfactory, with RSD less than 2% and meat extracts recovering over 98%. This method showed an appropriate, precise, fast and versatile procedure for determining nine BA simultaneously in different meat product matrices.