Effect of intensity of smoking treatment on the free amino acids and biogenic amines occurrence in dry cured ham

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the intensity of smoking treatment on the evolution of free amino acids (FAAs) of dry cured ham during processing. The correlation between FAAs and biogenic amines (BAs) content was also investigated as well as its effect on the perception of some sensory characteristics of ripened hams. Larger increases of FAAs occurred in the drying and ripening step and a higher content was determined in non-smoked hams than the ones have undergone the mild (two days) and intense (three days) smoking process. However, the FAAs composition detected in smoked products influenced to a limited extent the sensory properties of the ripened dry cured hams. Total FAAs content was highly correlated with total BAs amount; maximum concentration of BAs was reached in non-smoked hams, even if the sum of vasoactive amines for all samples was lower than those considered to generate toxic effects.