Public Health Significance of Amines in Cheese

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Abstract
Research designed to identify factors which may contribute to elevated biogenic amines (e.g., histamine, tryptamine, tyramine) in cheese is described. Free tyrosine and histidine in market cheese ranged from 6-29 and 1.5-12 mg/100 g. These concentrations of substrate would provide nontoxic quantities of corresponding amines, indicating that cheese proteolysis is important when toxic amounts occur. Pyridoxal phosphate concentration in 15 cheeses ranged from 42-215 .mu.g/100 g, which appears to be sufficient to saturate amino acid decarboxylases required for amine production. Commercial preparations and cheese isolates of Propronibacterium spp. were tested for CO2 production from histidine, tryptophan and tyrosine in the presence and absence of pyriodoxal-5-phosphate. In the presence of cofactor, maximums were 10.9, 2.9 and 12.7 .mu.l of CO2/h per mg cell dry weight. Over 150 isolates from 15 cheeses were tested for amine producing potential by measuring CO2 production from histidine, tryptophan and tyrosine; isolates were most active on tyrosine, producing as much as 26 .mu.l of CO2/h per mg cell dry weight. Cheese slurries also were tested for CO2 production from carboxyl14C labeled amino acids. Cheese isolates producing amines were tentatively identified as strains of Streptococcus faecium, S. mitis, Lactobacillis bulgaricus, L. plantarum and streptococci of the viridans group.