Determination of Biogenic Amines in Herby Cheese

Herby cheese (Otlu peynir) is widely produced and consumed in eastern parts of Turkey, and is generally made from sheep milk. The biogenic amines and organic acids content, microbiological, and chemical properties of Herby cheese were determined on 30 samples obtained from retail markets in East Anatolia Region, Turkey. The most important biogenic amines were tyramine (range 18.0–1125.5 mg kg^?1), followed by cadaverine varied from not detected to 1844.5 mg kg^?1. Histamine content generally was found higher than 100 mg kg^?1. The concentration of amines in some cheeses was much higher than the toxic dose limits. Generally, total amine content was found high in samples that had high nitrogen fraction and organic acids value. Levels of biogenic amines were significantly correlated with the organic acids of Herby cheese. The basic organic acid was found the lactic acid ranging from 585.4 to 26480.3 mg kg^?1, followed by butyric acid varying between 314.8 and 7329.6 mg kg^?1 values. Lipolysis and nitrogen fraction were determined high in ripened Herby cheese samples. Coliform counts of samples showed lower than 100 cfu g^?1 in the samples. Significant (p < 0.01) positive correlation was observed between acetic acid and phenylethylamine, putrescine, cadaverin, histamine, and tyramine.