Determination of biogenic amine profiles in conventional and organic cocoa-based products

Cocoa contains a lot of compounds knowing to influence consumers health, as biogenic amines (BAs). Spermine, spermidine, putrescine, histamine, tyramine, -phenylethylamine, cadaverine and serotonine have been determined in several cocoa-based products by LC-UV after derivatization with dansyl-chloride. Once optimized in terms of linearity, recovery percentages, LOD, LOQ and repeatability, the method has been applied to real samples. Total BAs concentration ranged from 5.7 µg g-1 to 79.0 µg g-1 with wide variations depending on the sample. BAs present in all samples were, in decreasing order, HIS (1.9-38.1 µg g-1) and TYR (1.7-31.7 µg g-1), while PUT (0.9-32.7 µg g-1), SPD (1.0-9.7 µg g-1) and SPM (0.6-9.3 µg g-1) were present in most of the samples. CAD, SER and PHE are in few samples at much lower concentrations. Organic samples always contained much lower BAs levels than their conventional counterparts and, generally speaking, the highest BAs amounts has been found in the most processed products.