Monitoring the contents of biogenic amines in fish and fish products consumed in Korea

In order to obtain the level of biogenic amines in fish and fish products, a reversed phase high performance liquid chromatographic method was used for the quantitation of 12 biogenic amines in 300 fish and 80 fish products in Korea. Biogenic amines were extracted with hydrochloric acid, derivatized with dansyl chloride, separated using gradient elution, and detected by photodiode array and all detected biogenic amines were identified by UPLC/MS/MS. The detection levels of biogenic amines in the sample ranged from ND (not detected) to 30.6 mg/kg for agmatine, from ND to 390.0 mg/kg for cadaverine, from ND to 19.8 mg/kg for dopamine, from ND to 70.1 mg/kg for histamine, from ND to 17.8 mg/kg for noradrenaline, from ND to 29.7 mg/kg for 2-phenylethylamine, from ND to 43.0 mg/kg for putrescine, from ND to 11.9 mg/kg for serotonin, from ND to 9.5 mg/kg for spermidine, from ND to 13.5 mg/kg for spermine, from ND to 12.8 mg/kg for tryptamine, and from ND to 67.7 mg/kg for tyramine. Anchovy samples showed the high levels of histamine from 15.2 to 70.1 mg/kg, putrescine from 9.1 to 43.0 mg/kg, cadaverine from 152.2 to 90.0 mg/kg, and tyramine from 27.1 to 67.7 mg/kg. Agmatine was found at 30.6 mg/kg in cuttlefish. In the others fish samples agmatine detection levels were in the range from ND to 27.2 mg/kg. Spermidine and dopamine were detected about more than 85% samples in the range from ND to 19.3 mg/kg. Most of fish product samples showed less than 20 mg/kg of each biogenic amine. The maximum histamine and tyramine detection levels were respectively less than those of the regulation and recommendation.