A rapid and inexpensive method for the determination of biogenic amines from bacterial cultures by thin-layer chromatography.

This study describes a simple, rapid, and inexpensive method to determine the ability to produce biogenic amines (BA) by bacteria in liquid culture media containing the corresponding amino acid precursor. In view of their role as starters in food fermentation, BA formation by these microorganisms has to be taken into consideration by selecting appropriate strains. For the standardization of the assay pure BA were mixed. The method avoids a prior extraction step of the amines and allows the separation and identification of the amines histamine, tyramine, putrescine, and phenylethylamine using thin-layer chromatography. The method was successfully applied to several BA-producer bacterial strains. This method constitutes a simple solution to the previous reports describing false-positive reactions in routine screening procedures generally involving the use of a differential medium containing a pH indicator.