An electrochemical sensor for monitoring biogenic amines in anchovies as quality and safety index

In this paper an electrochemical sensor for the monitoring of anchovy's shelf life is presented. The device has been developed addressing three user needs critical in food application: fast response, high reproducibility and ease of use. The system is composed of an electronic interface optimized with a low noise architecture coupled with a non-functionalized commercial screen printed electrode (SPE). The stability of the measuring process is ensured by the electronic feedback, and the interactions with the solutions are not mediated by a sensing material. The sensor has been calibrated against different concentration levels of seven specific biogenic amines (BAs) associated with the degradation of anchovies: β-phenylethylamine (β-PEA), putrescine (PUT), cadaverine (CAD), histamine (HIS), tyramine (TYR), spermine (SPM) and spermidine (SPD). This proof-of-concept experiment evidenced the potentialities of this technology both in BAs quantification and in monitoring anchovy's spoilage. The results obtained have been compared with LC-UV as standard laboratory instrument. After a first calibration step with standard BAs, the sensor has been tested in the monitoring of anchovy's samples stored for ten days at a temperature of 2 ± 1 °C. Sensors’ responses followed samples evolution against time in accordance with LC-UV results. Further developments are requested to set up a standard method for the industrial application of the sensor, but rapidity, low-cost and the ease of use account for its relevance as device to be used on field.