Determination of histamine and tyramine levels in distributed cheeses in Qazvin by high-performance liquid chromatography method

Histamine and tyramine are biogenic amines, which are toxic compounds produced by several microorganisms as a result of the metabolism of some amino acids and the decarboxylation reaction during fermentation or food spoilage. This study aimed to investigate the content of histamine and tyramine in cheeses distributed in Qazvin. Sixty samples including 30 samples of Koozeh cheese, 15 samples of pasteurized cheese, and 15 samples of probiotic cheese were collected randomly from September to December 2021 from Qazvin. The content rates of histamine and tyramine in the samples were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. All cheese samples contained histamine and the samples of Koozeh, pasteurized and probiotic cheeses contained 100%, 100% and 6.66% of histamine, respectively which are higher than the permissible limit (100 mg/kg). The mean value of histamine in the samples of Koozeh, pasteurized and probiotic cheeses were 208.37±34.94, 123.80 ± 12.04, and 66.67 ± 18.27 mg/kg, respectively (p<0.05). The values of tyramine in all the samples were within the permissible limit (600 mg/kg) and the mean values of tyramine in the samples of Koozeh, pasteurized and probiotic cheeses were 145.85 ± 15.24, 77.49 ± 10.34, and 45.98 ± 9.31 mg/kg, respectively(p<0.05). According to the results, it seems that the use of Koozeh and pasteurized cheeses in Qazvin is not suitable for people who are sensitive to high levels of histamine, and it is recommended that this group of people use probiotic cheese.