A. Halasz et al., The biogenic amine content of beer; the effect of barley, malting and brewing on amine concentration, Z LEBENSM U, 208(5-6), 1999, pp. 418-423
Citations number
14
Categorie Soggetti
Food Science/Nutrition
Journal title
ZEITSCHRIFT FUR LEBENSMITTEL-UNTERSUCHUNG UND-FORSCHUNG A-FOOD RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY
The effects of barley variety, malting, brewing technology, brewer's yeast
and bacterial contamination on the biogenic amine content of beer have been
investigated. Our results showed that barley variety had a detectable effe
ct on amine content, and this was also reflected in the amino acid decarbox
ylase activities of the samples. Investigations established that histamine
in malt did not originate from barley but was due to microbial contaminatio
n. During wort processing, significant increases of agmatine and putrescine
occurred, together with decreases for spermidine and spermine. As the hist
amine synthesising ability of different Lactobacillus strains are quite dif
ferent, there was no correlation between the histamine level of beer and th
e bacterial contamination of wort and pitching yeast, respectively. Total a
mine concentrations of bottled beer are significantly influenced by the bre
wing technology and to a much lesser extent by the applied barley variety.
The histamine content of beer is a good indicator for hygienic conditions o
f barley storage, malting and brewing, as the histamine content of the prod
uct does not originate from barley or from the malt.