宠物食品市场不断扩大,越来越重视宠物的喂养。干食品脱颖而出,往往是首选,因为它们的保质期长,易于管理,和低成本。在这种情况下,干粮由新鲜肉类制成,肉餐,或者两者的混合。这些原材料通常是不适合人类食用的肉类;它们可能会受到微生物的污染和繁殖,通过降解有机成分,可导致不希望的副产物如生物胺的形成。因此,这些通过氨基酸脱羧获得的含氮化合物可以在高蛋白食品中找到,大量摄入会导致中毒和有害。这项研究旨在分析三种不同配方的宠物鸡肉粗粒中可能存在的生物胺:一种是从新鲜肉类中获得的,一个来自肉餐,两者的混合之一。这项研究也集中在游离氨基酸的存在,因为它们代表了脱羧酶的关键底物。质谱(Q-TOFLC/MS)用于分析生物胺和游离氨基酸的存在。结果表明,鲜肉产品的生物胺含量较低,同时更多的游离氨基酸;相反,肉类和混合产品具有较大量的生物胺和较低浓度的游离氨基酸,这表明需氧嗜温细菌总数证明了微生物的增殖更高。因此,由于生物胺的最低浓度,当它们用于制备干燥的宠物食品时,基于鲜肉的粗粒是优选的。
The pet food market is constantly expanding, and more and more attention is paid to the feeding of pets. Dry foods stand out and are often preferred due to their long shelf life, ease of administration, and low cost. In this context, dry foods are formulated from fresh meats, meat meals, or a mix of the two. These raw materials are often meat not fit for human consumption; they might be subject to contamination and proliferation of microorganisms which, by degrading the organic component, can lead to the formation of undesirable by-products such as biogenic amines. These nitrogenous compounds obtained by decarboxylation of amino acids can therefore be found in high-protein foods, and their ingestion in large quantities can cause intoxication and be harmful. This study aims at analyzing the possible presence of biogenic amines in three different formulations of chicken-based kibbles for pets: one obtained from fresh meat, one from meat meal, and one from a mix of the two. This study is also focused on the presence of free amino acids as they represent the key substrate for decarboxylating enzymes. Mass spectrometry (Q-TOF LC/MS) was used to analyze the presence of biogenic amines and free amino acids. The results show that fresh-meat-based products have a lower content of biogenic amines, and at the same time a higher quantity of free amino acids; on the contrary, meat-meal- and mix-based products have a greater quantity of biogenic amines and a lower concentration of free amino acids, suggesting that there has been a higher microbial proliferation as proved by the total aerobic mesophilic bacteria counts. It is therefore clear that fresh-meat-based kibbles are to be preferred when they are used for preparing dry pet food due to the lowest concentration of biogenic amines.