Analysis of Biogenic Amines and Related Quality Indexes of Commercial Dry Salted Fish in the East China Sea

In order to study the potential risk of biogenic amines and the correlation between biogenic amines and quality indexes of dry salted fish from East China Sea during retail period, the physical and chemical indexes (water content, NaCl, pH, TVB-N and POV), microbial index (aerobic plate count) and eight biogenic amines of four species of dry salted fish (sea eel, large yellow croaker, pomfret and mackerel) in Zhejiang province were determined and analyzed. The results showed that the physicochemical indexes, microbial index and biogenic amines of the four dry salted fish were different. The water content was 25.6%~59.7%, the NaCl content was 3.4%~24.1%, pH was 6.08~6.97, TVB-N content was 7.7~56.4 mg/100 g, POV was 0.04~1.76 g/100 g, the total bacterial count was 3.43~5.67 lg CFU/g, and 50% of the samples exceeded the POV limit of dried aquatic products. Spermidine, histamine, cadaverine and putrescine were the main biogenic amines in dry salted fish. 15% of the samples contained histamine more than 100 mg/kg, which exceeded the limit standards of FDA and EU. The histamine content of B4 reached 1405.88 mg/kg. The tyramine content of all samples was less than 100 mg/kg, which met the limit of FDA. The total amounts of biogenic amines ranged from 96.05 mg/kg to 2164.64 mg/kg, and 15% of the samples were more than 1000 mg kg, which exceeded the limit standards of FDA. Correlation analysis showed that some biogenic amines indexes were moderately or highly correlated with aerobic plate count and NaCl content(P<0.05), and the correlation coefficients were 0.727~0.975 and −0.828~0.970, respectively. In conclusion, dry slated fish from the East China Sea, including products made from non high histamine fish, might have the risk of excessive biogenic amines and other quality problems. This study provides basic data and reference for quality evaluation and safety control of dry slated fish products.