Analysis and Significance of Tyramine in Foods

Abstract

SUMMARY— The tyramine levels in different varieties of cheeses, alcoholic drinks, and other foods were determined. Many of the food samples, analyzed by an existing fluorometric method, contained large amounts (up to 2.2 mg/g) of tyramine. Synephrine and octopamine, although rarely present in food, interfered with the fluorometric analysis. A gas chromatographic method was developed in which tyramine was extracted from foods and then analyzed as its trifluoroacetyl derivative using an electron capture detector. The gas chromatographic method was more sensitive and specific than the fluorometric method, and it permitted detection of 0.1–0.2 nanogram tyramine even in the presence of synephrine and octopamine.