Determination of biogenic amines in cheese and some other food products by high-performance liquid chromatography in combination with thermo-sensitized reaction detection.

A simple high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) analysis is described for biogenic amines in cheese and other food products. The sample clean-up consists of a precipitation-extraction step with trichloroacetic acid, which gives recoveries of amines in cheese in the range of 85-105%. The HPLC analysis is performed by reversed-phase ion-pair chromatography, using a ninhydrin-containing eluent, which eliminates the need for an extra reagent pump for the post-column derivatization. Band broadening is minimized by using a poly(tetrafluoroethylene) knitted tube reactor at 145 degrees C. The detection limit for amines is 2 mg/kg cheese and the method is linear for 0.1-4 micrograms of amine injected. Examples are given of the analysis of amines in cheese, wine and sauerkraut.