Determination of histamine in seafood by hydrophilic interaction chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry

A simple method was developed to determine histamine, an important compound in chemical food poisoning, by extraction followed by hydrophilic interaction chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry using a hydrophilic column with sulfobetaine-type zwitterion groups. The quantitation range in seafood products was from 0.4 to 200 mg kg(-1) for 5 g food samples. Quantitative recoveries were obtained with four types of seafood product. These results agreed well with those from the more complex, conventional HPLC method, which requires sample derivatization with dansyl chloride.