Formation of biogenic amines during the maturity process of raw meat products, for example of cervelat sausage

The raw meat product cervelat sausage with a diameter of 90 mm was investigated during maturation and storage over a period of about 12 weeks. The examination was carried out by ion exchange chromatography (amino acid analyzer) and included the amines ethylamine, propylamine, butylamine, putrescine, histamine, cadaverine, tyramine, β-phenylethylamine, spermidine and spermine. In addition, the starter bacteria cultures varied according to manufacturer. Over the duration of investigation, five different production batches were observed in parallel. During the maturity process and storage, after 87 days, tyramine (58.9 mg kg−1) showed a clear dominance, followed by spermine (34.1 mg kg−1), putrescine (26.1 mg kg−1) and spermidine (8.7 mg kg−1), if starter bacteria culture 1 was used. Other amines were not detected. The use of starter bacteria culture 2 led, after 87 days, to the highest content of putrescine (244.1 mg kg−1), followed by tyramine (119.2 mg kg−1), histamine (52.9 mg kg−1), spermine (37.5 mg kg−1) and spermidine (9.2 mg kg−1). With the use of starter bacteria culture 3, for spermine and spermidine a comparable behavior was shown to that with culture 1 or 2. After 87 days, putrescine reached the highest value of 484.2 mg kg−1, followed by tyramine (119.4 mg kg−1) and histamine (111.0 mg kg−1). Cadaverine (36.9 mg kg−1) could also be determined. As an accompanying investigation, the parameters pH, water activity (aw) and microbial count (lactobacilli, enterobacteria, staphylococci and yeast) were determined. An investigation of the sections center-middle-edge showed that the content of amines increases to its highest values in the middle. The edge showed the lowest content. This behavior correlates with the aw distribution of a raw sausage.