Determination of biogenic amines and total aflatoxins: Quality index of starter culture soy sauce samples

This study deals with understanding the effects of starter cultures on the safety aspects of soy sauce fermentation and their application to compensate undesirable changes occurring during fermentation processes. Various starter cultures of bacterial and fungal combinations with different microbial strains were used for the production of soy sauce samples under standardized fermentation/ manufacturing conditions, and contents of biogenic amines (BAs) and aflatoxins were determined. Quantitative analysis of BAs and aflatoxins was performed using HPLC and immunoassay-based total aflatoxin detection kit, respectively. The amount of total BAs in all laboratory-made starter culture soy sauce samples was quantified in the range of 2.80-20.42 mg/L, which was within the limit of human consumption safety level. In addition, the level of total aflatoxin was under the limit (0.00 to 4.80 mu g/kg), according to the standard parameters of food and agricultural organization (FAO) and world health organization (WHO).