A survey of the main technology, biochemical and microbiological features influencing the concentration of biogenic amines of twenty Apulian and Sicilian (Southern Italy) cheeses Rosa Guarcello a , Annamaria Diviccaro b , Marcella Barbera a , Elena Giancippoli b , Luca Settanni a , Fabio Minervini b, * , Giancarlo Moschetti a , Marco Gobbetti b a Department of Agricultural and Forest Science, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze 4, 90128 Palermo, Italy b Department of Scienze del Suolo, della Pianta e degli Alimenti, University of Bari Aldo Moro, via Amendola 165/a, 70126 Bari, Italy article info Article history: Received 11 September 2014 Received in revised form 27 November 2014 Accepted 28 November 2014 Available online 5 December 2014 abstract Twenty Apulian and Sicilian cheeses were analysed for their concentrations of eight biogenic amines (BAs), free amino acids, pH, water activity, and subjected to microbiological characterisation. In addition, lactic acid bacteria isolated from cheeses were assayed for their capacity to generate BAs. Principal component analysis was performed to find the effect of different parameters on the distribution of the cheeses. Although short-ripened (30 d) cheeses did not show significant BA concentrations, the only BA showing high positive correlation with time of ripening was histamine. Concentration of histidine and, especially, percentage of histidine-decarboxylase bacteria presumably affected histamine concentration. High pH values were negatively correlated to the concentration of tyramine, putrescine, and cadaverine. Fifty percent of the cheeses contained at least one BA at potentially toxic concentrations. Unambiguous and ever-valid relations among parameters and BAs are difficult to determine, because BAs are the result of combined and varied factors. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Biogenic amines (BAs) are low-molecular nitrogenous organic bases that are formed in foodstuffs by microbial decarboxylation of the precursor amino acids. Tyrosine, histidine, lysine, tryptophan, and phenylalanine are, respectively, precursor amino acids for tyramine, histamine, cadaverine, tryptamine, and 2- phenylethylamine. Ornithine and arginine may be the precursors for putrescine, spermidine and spermine. Although small amounts of BAs are biosynthesised in plant and animal cells, having different biological activities (Pinho et al., 2004), these compounds are potentially toxic to human health. The effects on nervous and vascular systems are particularly severe in sensitive people or when the amine oxidases, naturally involved in the detoxification, are inhibited (Shalaby, 1996; Silla Santos, 1996). The toxicity limit of BAs in foods is estimated to be 100 mg kg 1 , even though it is stated that the safe sum of histamine, tyramine, putrescine and cadaverine should not exceed 900 mg kg 1 (Shalaby, 1996; Valsamaki, Michaelidou, & Polychroniadou, 2000). Cheeses are among the foods most commonly associated with the presence of BAs (Innocente & D'Agostin, 2002; Moret, Bortolomeazzi, Feruglio, & Lerker, 1992; Stratton, Hutkins, & Taylor, 1991). Indeed, the main biochemical process that takes place during cheese ripening, proteolysis, leads to the accumulation of free amino acids (FAAs), some of which are precursors of BAs. The BA concentration of many typical and/or traditional Italian cheeses was analysed (Innocente, Biasutti, Padovese, & Moret, 2007; Ladero, Fern andez, &  Alvarez, 2009; Martuscelli et al., 2005; Schirone et al., 2013; Spizzirri et al., 2013). Overall, the concentra- tion and type of BAs in cheeses is extremely variable, depending on: (i) type of milk (cows'/sheep's/goats' milk); (ii) thermal treatment of cheese milk; (iii) section of the cheese (edge/core); (iv) ripening conditions; (v) post-ripening processing; (vi) type of packaging; (vii) storage time and temperature; and (viii) microbiota respon- sible for cheese-making (Loizzo et al., 2013). Generally, the con- centration of BAs was lower in short-ripened than in long-ripened cheeses (Bunkov a et al., 2010; Fern andez, Linares, Del Rio, Ladero, & Alvarez, 2007), where the level of proteolysis and catabolism of * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ39 080 5442950. E-mail address: fabio.minervini@uniba.it (F. Minervini). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Dairy Journal journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/idairyj http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.idairyj.2014.11.007 0958-6946/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. International Dairy Journal 43 (2015) 61e69