Influence of harvesting time on biogenic amines profile in Italian hempseed

Over the recent years, several consumers moved to healthy and natural lifestyles. The main contribution to these lifestyles is given by the change in diet. Consumers are looking for natural foods, rich in nutrients and with a low environmental impact. Hemp seeds are protagonists of this change. It comes from seeds of selected varieties of the Cannabis Sativa L plant. Canapa Sativa is an ancient industrial plant with multiple uses. This plant has been used in the past to produce cordages, fabrics, paper, cosmetics and is free of the psychoactive substance tetra-hydro-cannabinol THC (THC <0.2%, EC Reg. No 1673/2000; EC Reg. No 73 / 2009). Furthermore, hemp seeds have an optimal nutritional profile: fair amount of proteins with high biological value, ideal ratio of unsaturated fatty acids ω3:ω6, micronutrients and antioxidants presence. Nowadays, the food involves of Canapa Sativa is growing up. The hemp-food market is steadily increasing, thanks to its high nutritional value. The aim of this study was to characterize some hempseeds cultivated in Italy, evaluating the profile of 8 biogenic amines (histamine, serotonin, spermine, spermidine, putrescine, β-phenylethylamine, cadaverine, tyramine). Biogenic amines are widely proposed as a marker to evaluate the quality, safety and geographic or botanical origin of the raw materials. Biogenic amines are molecules derived from enzyme or microorganism activity, found in several foods and beverages. They come from amino acids decarboxylation and can cause several effects in human organism like food poisonings, scombroid syndrome and the cheese crisis. For these reasons, some biogenic amines as histamine and tyramine are usually monitored in food to ensure the hygienic-sanitary safety. In this study a reverse phase liquid chromatography method coupled with a spectrofluorimetric detector (RP-HPLC-FD) and pre-column derivatization was used. Sampling was carried out by considering different harvesting time, cultivars and storage methods of seeds. The results show that the BAs profile was influenced by cultivar and harvesting time, with a total concentration <300 mg / kg in all samples (Fig. 1). Moreover, a multivariate statistical (chemometric) treatment of data matrix was performed. An exploratory data analysis (PCA) allowed to highlight natural grouping of samples. In addition, a linear discriminate analysis (LDA) model was also constructed to classify hempseeds according to harvesting time and cultivar.