Nitrogen compounds in wine: factors involved in formation of amino acids and biogenic amines

The presence of biogenic amines in foods is considered a turning point in food safety, given their involvementin food poisoning. Due to the metabolic pathways, formation of these compounds are related to microbialactivity, which makes wines products with relatively large amounts of these compounds. The formationof biogenic amines in wines has been a serious problem faced by most wineries. Although there are nolegal limits on the concentration of these compounds in wines, many European countries have developedtheir own restrictions, especially with regard to histamine. Therefore, besides the damage to human healthand organoleptic characteristics, high concentrations of biogenic amines can cause economic losses, oncethat there is the possibility of embargo of parts of those countries where the wines have concentrations ofbiogenic amines above the legal limits.