Chapter 9: Biogenic Amines in Baby Foods

Baby foods are classified as foodstuffs intended for particular nutritional uses, owing to their special composition or manufacturing process, and are clearly distinguishable from foodstuffs for normal consumption. Potential adverse reactions among infants and young children could appear after consumption of food containing small amounts of biogenic amines which may enhance histamine release from basophils and provoke allergy-like responses. Foods for infants and young children have never been the object of biogenic amine profiling. The primary causes of this is due to the lack of proper analytical methodology with appropriate sensitivity, and secondary, that such a low level of these compounds in food is not hazardous for healthy adults. The connection of separation technique (HPLC) with mass spectrometry detection allowed the biogenic amine profiling of foods for infants and young children. The identified amines were methylamine, ethylamine, putrescine, cadaverine, histamine, agmatine, serotonin, tyramine, spermidine, norepinephrine and spermine. The acquired results clearly indicate that there is the need to pay special attention to a proper ingredients selection in foodstuffs intended for the youngest consumers in order to protect them from the adverse effects of the consumption of toxic amines.