Characterization of the Production of Biogenic Amines and Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid in the Soybean Pastes Fermented by Aspergillus oryzae and Lactobacillus brevis

The production of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) using GABA-producing lactic acid bacteria (LAB) has been considered to be an attractive strategy. However, some LAB may produce biogenic amines (BA), which may be of concern from the safety viewpoint. The aim of the present study was to characterize the production of GABA and BA in the soybean pastes fermented by Aspergillus oryzae (A. oryzae) FMB S46471 and GABA-producing Lactobacillus brevis (L. brevis) GABA 100. After a ripening period of 90 days, the levels of BA (putrescine, cadaverine, histamine, and tyramine) and GABA in the fermented soybean were assessed by high-performance liquid chromatography. The soybean pastes fermented by A. oryzae and L. brevis showed a range of 7,130-11,592 mg/kg for GABA, 178-305 mg/kg for tyramine, 139-163 mg/kg for putrescine, 7.4-10.8 mg/kg for histamine, and 7.1-7.9 mg/kg for cadaverine, whereas the soybean pastes fermented by A. oryzae only showed a range of 30-1,671 mg/kg for GABA, 0.8-189 mg/kg for tyramine, 1.3-85 mg/kg for putrescine, up to 3.6 mg/kg for histamine, and 0.2-2.4 mg/kg for cadaverine. The results showed that the production of GABA was accompanied by the increase in the production of BA, even though the production levels of histamine and cadaverine were very low. This is the first study to simultaneously characterize the production of BA and GABA in GABA-enriched fermented soybean pastes, and warrants further study to minimize the production of BA while optimizing the production of GABA.