Simultaneous determination of biogenic amines and estrogens in foodstuff by an improved HPLC method combining with fluorescence labeling

•A new HPLC method was developed for sensitive analysis of biogenic amine and estrogen.•EAC was first proposed for the simultaneous labeling of biogenic amine and estrogen.•The sufficient fluorescence labeling was accomplished within only 6 min.•This method offered lower detection limits of 0.27-0.69 ng/mL.

Biogenic amines (BA) and estrogens (ES) have attracted increasing attentions due to their significance on food safety and food quality. In this study, a novel HPLC-FLD method using ethyl-acridine-sulfonyl chloride (EAC) as fluorescence labeling reagent has been developed for simultaneous determination of BA and ES in food samples. The labeling conditions including labeling time, pH of borate buffers and amount of EAC were optimized. The simultaneous labeling of BA and ES can be finished in as little as 6 min. This method without complex pre-treatment offered the low LOD of 0.27-0.69 ng/mL. It was applied to analyze several food samples (beer, cheese, fish, sausage and shrimp), and showed excellent applicability.