Biogenic Amines in Meat and Meat Products: A Review of the Science and Future Perspectives

Abstract

Biogenic amines (BAs) can be found in a wide range of meat and meat products, where they are important as an index for product stability and quality, but also for their impact on public health. This review analyzes the scientific evidence gathered so far on the presence and role of biogenic amines in meat and meat products, also considering the effect of technological conditions on BAs accumulation or decrease. The data provided can be useful for developing solutions to control BAs formation during the shelf-life, for example by novel starters for dry cured products, as well as by packaging technologies and materials for fresh meats. Further research, whose trends are reviewed in this paper, will fill the knowledge gaps, and allow us to protect such perishable products along the distribution chain and in the home environment.

Effects of the microbial community on the formation of volatile compounds and biogenic amines during the traditional brewing of Hongqu rice wine

“…Biogenic amines (BAs), a general term of low-molecular-weight nitrogenous organic compounds, are usually generated by through enzymatic decarboxylation of free amino acids or amination and transamination of aldehydes and ketones by microbial metabolism ( Latorre-Moratalla et al, 2010 ). Excessive intake of foods containing BAs may cause adverse physiological reactions, such as increased blood pressure, headaches, vomiting, heart palpitations, heart failure and digestive disorders ( Maintz and Novak, 2007 ; Benkerroum, 2016 ; Pegg, 2013 ; Sun et al, 2020 ; Schirone et al, 2022 ). The most common BAs in fermented foods include putrescine, histamine, tyramine, tryptamine, phenylethylamine, cadaverine, spermine and spermidine.…”

Influence of Sugar Beet Pulp Supplementation on Pigs’ Health and Production Quality

“…Endogenic BAs are excreted by different tissues in humans or animals and transferred locally or via the blood system, whereas exogenic BAs are formed by the action of decarboxylase-positive microorganisms on free amino acids [ 83 ]. Usually, the BA level is considered an index for food product stability and quality because high contents of these compounds negatively affect human health [ 84 ]. The presence of spermine in the tested meat of both groups is related with the higher amount of this BA in fresh meat (20–60 mg/kg) [ 85 ].…”

Impact of salt concentration on bacterial diversity and changes in biogenic amines during fermentation of farmhouse soybean paste in Northeast China

“…However, these four genera did not show any correlation with any BAs in this study. Other studies have shown that at the end of ripening of fermented meat products, Staphylococcus have the ability to degrade Tyr and Put ( Schirone et al, 2022 ). In this study, Staphylococcus was significantly positively correlated with Spm.…”