THE FORMATION OF NONVOLATILE AMINES IN RELATION TO CONCENTRATIONS OF FREE BASIC-AMINO-ACIDS DURING POSTMORTEM STORAGE OF THE MUSCLE OF SCALLOP (PECTEN-MAXIMUS), HERRING (CLUPEA-HARENGUS) AND MACKEREL (SCOMBER-SCOMBRUS)

The concentrations of the non-volatile biogenic amines that form durin g storage of the adductor muscle of scallop (Pecten maximus) and the s keletal muscles of mackerel (Scomber scombrus) and herring (Clupea har engus) were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography, usin g postcolumn derivatisation with o-phthalaldehyde. Initially, concentr ations of amines were low in all muscles but, as time of storage progr essed, the concentration of agmatine increased steadily in scallop mus cle reaching a level of 100 mg per 100 g wet weight after 10 days of s torage in ice or 3 days at 10 degrees C. In mackerel and herring only slight increases were observed, with levels of less than 1.0 mg after 10 days in ice or 2 days at 10 degrees C. In scallop, arginine, the pr ecursor of agmatine, decreased steadily in concentration. In herring m uscle, histidine, the precursor of histamine, decreased considerably i n concentration, whereas in mackerel it changed only slightly. (C) 199 7 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.