Nanopore Identification of Biogenic Amines and Its Applications in Food Freshness Evaluation

Biogenic amines (BAs) are nitrogenous biomolecules with essential physiological functions. However, excessive levels of BAs in food matrices can lead to adverse health effects. Conventional analytical techniques such as chromatography and mass spectrometry, are often limited by solvent dependency and derivatization requirements. Nanopore, an emerging single-molecule detection platform, was used to overcome these limitations. In this work, a single nickel ion-modified nanopore enabled the detection of aliphatic, aromatic, and heterocyclic BAs. Six BAs, including putrescine, cadaverine, β-phenylethylamine, tyramine, tryptamine and histamine were distinctly identified, with mechanistic insights elucidated via detailed event characterization. Furthermore, a machine learning classifier was developed for automated biogenic amine identification, achieving an accuracy of 99.0%. The strategy was also applied to detect BAs in real food samples, where five types of biogenic amines were successfully identified in shrimp, highlighting its significant potential for applications in food freshness monitoring and safety assurance.