Spectrofluorometric determination of histamine in fish and meat products

A method has been developed for spectrofluorometric determination of histamine in fish and meat products. After a perchloric extract is obtained from samples, histamine is extracted with n-butanol and transferred to hydrochloric acid. Finally, histamine is subjected to a condensation reaction with o-phthalaldehyde (OPT). The method was tested for lack of interference from other amines. Precision of the method in fish products was 6.60% CV; recovery was 96.50%. In meat products, precision was 5.42% CV; recovery was 96.20%. By analysis of variance (P = 0.05), no significant statistical differences were found for recovery values vs histamine content in both foods.