A review of pretreatment and analytical methods of biogenic amines in food and biological samples since 2010.

Biogenic amines (BAs), mainly produced by amino acid decarboxylation, are widespread in foods and human organisms. Appropriate intake of BAs is beneficial to the human body, while excessive consumption may cause discomfort. Meanwhile, BAs are a kind of chemical marker for evaluating meat freshness. For these reasons, simple, rapid and efficient methods have been developed for the determination of BAs in food and biological products. This review introduces the provenance, classification and physiological activity of eight essential BAs and summarizes the dominant pretreatment and analysis methods since 2010. Pretreatment technologies mainly include the "dilute and shoot" method, ultrasonic assisted extraction, solid-phase extraction, matrix solid-phase dispersion, dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction, etc. Determination methods include liquid chromatography coupled to ultraviolet or fluorescence detectors, liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, capillary electrophoresis, biosensors and so on.