Determination of histamine in fish by liquid chromatography with post-column reaction and fluorometric detection

A liquid chromatographic (LC) system, using a bonded cation-exchange column, resolves histamine from histidine and other related compounds. Detection sensitivity and specificity are enhanced by introduction of a post-column reaction with o-phthalaldehyde to form a fluorescent derivative. The limit of detection is 1.5 ng histamine, and the response is linear over a range of 7-750 ng. The average histamine recovery from fortified tuna and mahimahi samples was 98.4% with a relative standard deviation of 2.18%. The results for canned tuna and mahimahi were comparable to those obtained by using the official AOAC method. The LC method requires only simple extraction of the sample before introduction into the LC system, which resolves and detects cadaverine and putrescine in addition to histamine.