The Occurrence of Biogenic Amines in Food Originating from Animals: Current Knowledge and Future Perspectives

Biogenic amines (BA) are natural amines, belonging to trace compound substances, with physiological significance in low doses while in high concentration they can have deleterious effects on human health. In addition, these substances can also evaluated as freshness index in fish and several other foods. Different bacteria, yeasts and moulds produce BAs through decarboxylation of corresponding amino acids as a stress response mechanism to low pH conditions. Concerning different types of food, BAs contents usually increases due to the microbial spoilage during spontaneous or controlled microbial fermentation and this increase could represent several food safety problems. After a brief introduction, this chapter aims to critically review the latest knowledge described in studies carried out worldwide about the occurrence and the food safety issues of the BAs in two selected animal origin food sources such as fish and dairy products. In particular, different technological strategies for prevention of BAs accumulation for safety purposes in the above mentioned food products are evaluated.