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. 2025 May 22;14(11):1842.
doi: 10.3390/foods14111842.

Investigation of Biogenic Amines and Quality in Jerky, Bacon, and Sausage: Chinese Traditional Meat Product

Xueying Sun  1 , Xige He  2 , Dan Wang  1 , Min Zhang  1 , Guanhua Hu  1 , Erke Sun  1 , Lina Sun  1 , Ye Jin  1 , Lihua Zhao  1
Affiliations

Investigation of Biogenic Amines and Quality in Jerky, Bacon, and Sausage: Chinese Traditional Meat Product

Xueying Sun et al. Foods. .

Abstract

Traditional meat products are renowned for their distinctive flavor and palatability. Nevertheless, the safety of meat products produced by cottage industries remains a matter of concern, especially regarding the content of biogenic amines (BAs) and overall quality. Currently, limited published data exist on these aspects. This study aimed to assess the levels of BAs and key quality index in 41 traditional meat products sourced from China. The analysis revealed that all samples contained measurable levels of total biogenic amines, with concentrations ranging from 11.76 mg/kg to 1632.24 mg/kg. The nitrite content and total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) value of some samples exceeded the standard and normal range. The findings indicate that BAs levels, TBARS values, and nitrite residues of the tested meat products surpassed toxicity thresholds outlined by various regulatory bodies, emphasizing the critical need for enhanced control measures to mitigate biogenic amine content, TBARS, and nitrite residues in meat products.

Keywords: bacon; biogenic amines; jerky; quality; sausage.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Quantity of different protein content (%) and Proteolysis Index in the 41 meat products from the traditional cottage industry. J: jerky, B: bacon, S: sausage.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Heatmap of different free amino acid in the 41 meat products from the traditional cottage industry. J: jerky, B: bacon, S: sausage.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Quantity of different sodium nitrite residue amount and TVB-N value in the 41 meat products from the traditional cottage industry. J: jerky, B: bacon, S: sausage.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The PCA of the BA levels of traditional meat product. B: bacon; J: jerky; S: sausage.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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