Specific determination of histamine in cheese and cured meat products by ion chromatography coupled to fluorimetric detection

A simple, specific and reliable method for the determination of the biogenic amine histamine in cheese and cured met products has been optimized and validated. The proposed analytical scheme is based on the powerful combination of cation exchange chromatography to sensitive and selective post column derivatization. The fluorescence post column reaction between histamine and o-phthalaldehyde was systematically optimized using Box-Behnken experimental design, while the method was validated in terms of linearity, LOD, precision, matrix effect and accuracy. The ruggedness of the method was investigated using Monte-Carlo simulations. The LOD of 0.15 mg kg(-1) was quite satisfactory for food analysis, while the absence of matrix effect (< +/- 5.5%) enabled quantification based on the aqueous calibration curve, also avoiding complicated pretreatment procedures. Various cheese and cured meat products were analyzed successfully with percent recoveries in the range of 91.3-116.9%.