Preliminary results on the content of BAs in some Italian cheeses

The food safety topic is of great importance for preserving consumers from harmful substances, and suitable strategies must be developed for reducing their content or avoiding their formation. Among hazardous substances, biogenic amines (BAs) are commonly found in fermented foods, arising from microbial decarboxylase activity on amino acids when suitable conditions occur (i.e. proteolysis and low pH). An excess intake of BA has been proved to be toxic, with acute or chronic consequences. Unfortunately, data about their content in many foods are lacking or are insufficient. In fact, a legal limit has been only fixed for scombroids (200 mg/kg of histamine), even though many other food products could suffer from this problem. The aim of this preliminary study is to assess BAs concentration in different types of cheese at different ripening times, for better understanding the kinetics of their formation and degradation. An HPLC-DAD system was used to quantify the BAs most frequently found in cheeses after pre-column derivatization with dansyl chloride. Early results highlighted the presence of a potential risk in some analysed cheeses, as histamine was found in concentrations above 200 mg/kg; on the other hand, some other samples showed values below 60 mg/kg. Concerning the others, one of the most abundant besides histamine was tryptamine, which was detected in almost all samples. The evolution of BAs over time showed a maximum peak of concentration, then a reduction. It is important to monitor their formation in order to assess the period of maximum concentration for consumer safety.