Biogenic Amines
Compounds such as histamine and tyramine produced when bacteria break down amino acids, especially in poorly handled or slowly ripened products. High levels cause reactions in sensitive people and signal poor hygiene.
Biogenic amines are formed when bacteria decarboxylate amino acids during ripening, turning histidine into histamine, tyrosine into tyramine, and so on. A little is normal in any fermented food, but high levels are both a health concern and a marker of how cleanly a product was made.
Histamine can cause a food-poisoning-like reaction, and tyramine can trigger blood-pressure and headache responses, dangerously so for people taking certain antidepressants. Their levels rise with a heavy starting bacterial load, poor hygiene, sluggish acidification and very long ripening, so they tend to track exactly the things good practice tries to avoid.
The controls are the familiar ones: clean raw material, good hygiene, and a fast, competitive starter culture that acidifies quickly and leaves little room for the wild bacteria that produce most amines. Biogenic amines are therefore a Hygiene Control matter, a quiet chemical report card on the cleanliness of the whole process.
Temple element. Pillar, Hygiene Control