Abstract:

A total of 21 fermented sausage samples, including naturally fermented sausages from 10 different areas of
Sichuan province and starter culture fermented yak meat sausages, were investigated for the contents of biogenic amines.
The results showed that tyramine, spermidine, spermine, cadaverine, putrescine, tryptamine and histamine were determined
in these 21 fermented sausage samples, while β-phenylethylamine was not detected. The total content of biogenic amines in
samples was in the range of 57.34–411.12 mg/kg. The contents of tyramine in naturally fermented samples collected from
Xichang and Guang’an exceeded the limit (≤ 100 mg/kg) set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the
total content of biogenic amines in other test samples was within the safety range.

Key words: biogenic amine, fermented sausage, yak meat, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)