The presence of histamine in wine is becoming increasingly important to consumers and producers alike, due to the health implications of its potential toxicity to humans. Histamine also has the potential to be an indicator of unsanitary conditions during wine production. Current methods for analyzing histamine are HPLC, ELISA, and fluorimetry. These methods require expensive and sophisticated instrumentation and, as a consequence, skilled technicians. We present a new, simple, and rapid enzymatic method for determination of histamine in red and white wine based on the specific reaction of histamine with recombinant histamine dehydrogenase from E. coli, reducing a soluble tetrazolium salt to form a formazan salt that absorbs at 420 nm. This can be measured using visible spectrophotometry and correlated, through calibration, with histamine concentration. A simple method to remove interfering substances (reducing agents like polyphenols and anthocyanins) from wine samples is also presented. This new reagent is stable in a ready-to-use liquid form, avoiding end-user influence. It has been formulated for use in any photometer or automated analyzer. The assay’s linearity, limit of detection (LoD), limit of quantification (LoQ), repeatability, within-laboratory reproducibility, trueness, and recovery were characterized using a BioSystems Y15 automated analyzer and HPLC method OIV-MA-AS315-18 as the reference.

Funding Support: BioSystems S.A.