ORIGINAL PAPER Histamine in Australian wines—a survey between 1982 and 2009 Eveline J. Bartowsky & Creina S. Stockley Received: 1 February 2010 / Accepted: 11 April 2010 / Published online: 13 June 2010 # Springer-Verlag and the University of Milan 2010 Abstract Biogenic amines are found in a range of fermented foods and beverages, including wine. Absorption of these compounds in elevated concentrations may induce headaches, gastro-intestinal and respiratory distress. The main biogenic amines found in wine are histamine, tyramine, cadaverine and putrescine. Even though concentrations of histamine in wine are generally ten-fold lower than found in some fresh and other fermented foods, their presence may contribute to an adverse reaction when consumed in combination with other histamine-containing foods. It is well established that the main contribution of biogenic amines in wines is from lactic acid bacteria metabolism, especially during or after malolactic fermentation (MLF). A survey for histamine content of Australian red and white wines produced during 1982–1990 demonstrated a wide range of concentrations (mean 1.58 and 0.21 mg/L, respectively). A second survey of histamine content in red and white wines produced during 2003–2009 (mean 1.75 and 0.59 mg/L, respectively) showed that there were minimal changes in the mean histamine concentration over the period of the two sets of wines. All 238 Australian wines from 1982–1990 and 99 of 100 wines from 2003–2009 were below the former regulatory recommended limit of 10 mg/L for histamine in wine and were low compared to other wine- producing countries. Seven other biogenic amines measured in the Australian wines from 2003–2009 also had low means compared to other wine-producing countries. Keywords Histamine . Putrescine . Biogenic amine . Malolactic fermentation . Oenococcus Introduction Histamine, a biogenic amine, is present in measurable quantities in cheese, fish, meat, yeast extracts and products, vegetables and wine (Malone and Metcalfe 1986). While histamine has been observed to be vasoactive, clinical/toxic symptoms generally occur only when large amounts exceeding normal dietary intake are ingested, for example, greater than 32–250 mg (Sjaastad 1966; Hughes and Merson 1976). Generally an upper limit of 100 mg histamine/kg in foods has been suggested (ten Brink et al. 1990). These amounts are far in excess of those observed in wine. Indeed, the amount of histamine observed in wine is generally ten-fold less than that measured in other food- stuffs associated with physiological reactions (Malone and Metcalfe 1986; Mahendradatta and Schwedt 1996; Pena- Gallego et al. 2009). Indeed, if a low concentration of biogenic amines is ingested they are normally quickly metabolised by amine oxidases to produce aldehyde, hydrogen peroxide and ammonia or through conjugation (Smit et al. 2008), although the presence of ethanol, acetaldehyde and other biogenic amines may inhibit this normal metabolism in humans such that the clinical toxic symptoms may be observed. A double blind placebo controlled study showed however, that there was no correlation between the histamine concentration of wine and adverse physiological reactions (Kanny et al. 2001). Histamine is formed from the microbial decarboxylation of the amino acid L-histidine. Although the histamine content of wine has been the subject of considerable analysis in the past 25 years, it is now widely accepted This paper is part of the special issue “Wine microbiology and safety: from the vineyard to the bottle (Microsafetywine)”, 19–20 November 2009, Martina Franca (Italy). E. J. Bartowsky (*) : C. S. Stockley The Australian Wine Research Institute, PO Box 197, Glen Osmond, Adelaide, SA 5064, Australia e-mail: Eveline.Bartowsky@awri.com.au Ann Microbiol (2011) 61:167–172 DOI 10.1007/s13213-010-0070-z