National Veterinary Institute, Department of Chemistry, SF-00101, Helsinki, Finland A liquid chromatographic method is described for the determination of biogenic amines found in dry sausages: tryptamine, phenylethylamine, putrescine, cadaverine, histamine, serotonin, tyramine, spermidine, and spermine. Amines were extracted with perchloric acid solution and derivatized with dansyl chloride. After derivatization, ammonia was added to remove an interfering peak near cadaverine. Liquid chromatographic separations were performed by using a Spherisorb ODS2 column and an ammonium acetate-acetonitrile gradient elution program. The limits of determination of the individual amines were 1-5 mg/kg. This method is also applicable to detection of amines in other food samples.

associated with the synthesis of linolenic acid appeared to be active throughout the growth period of each cultivar. Although we previously showed hydrocarbon profiles of these three orange cultivars to correlate closely with dates of ripening (Nordby and Nagy, 1977), the present study showed no definitive correlation between these cultivars fatty acid patterns and ripening dates.

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Raw materials affect formation of biogenic amines in dry sausages. Effects of thawing time of raw materials and amine-negative starter culture on amine formation were studied on a pilot scale. The levels of biogenic amines, precursor amino acids, pH, water activity, and microbial counts were measured. Use of starter culture significantly decreased levels of histamine, tyramine and cadaverine formed. The effect of thawing time on formation of biogenic amines was dependent on the use of starter culture.

Aluminium, cadmium and lead concentrations in the spermatozoa and seminal plasma of 27 employees of two industrial companies, a refinery and a polyolefin factory, and 45 consecutive sperm donor candidates at a sperm bank were studied using atomic absorption measurements. The relationship between metal concentration and parameters of semen analysis was studied. A high concentration of aluminium in spermatozoa was correlated with decreased sperm motility. The concentrations of cadmium and lead were low and did not show any correlation with parameters of semen analysis. Aluminium may be one of the environmental pollutants causing impaired semen quality. The mean sperm concentrations were similar in the factory employees (96 x 10(6)/ml), in the sperm donor candidates of the comparison group (104 x 10(6)/ml) and in 352 donor candidates at the sperm bank of the Family Federation of Finland (107 x 10(6)/ml) between May 1993 and May 1995.