Improved method for determination and identification of serotonin in foods.

A previously described method to identify and quantitate serotonin in foods has been improved. The extraction and separation of serotonin from interfering substances has been improved, and the scope of material to which the method may be applied has been widened. The relative standard deviation (RSD) for repeated determinations of serotonin in canned fried tomato purée and the average recovery of serotonin added to the same sample was 6.25 and 89.9%, respectively. The method showed the presence of serotonin in apricots, cherries, and peaches.