A simple, fast, and direct electrochemical determination of tyramine in Brazilian wines using low-cost electrodes

Biogenic amines are a class of organic compounds formed in foods and beverages by enzymatic reactions or microbial decarboxylation of amino acids. Despite their benefits, in unusual concentrations, they are associated with hypertensive crises, neurological disorders and are precursors of compounds with cancer risk. Their abnormal levels are criteria for food spoilage and food safety. Tyramine is a biogenic amine found mainly in fermented foods as wine. Spoilage in the wine production process can increase tyramine concentration resulting in a harmful product to consumers. A fast, simple, and reliable method of tyramine detection in wine samples is necessary to ensure quality control. As this analyte presents electroactivity, three electrochemical techniques and ten different brands of pencil carbon graphite electrodes were used to explore and optimize its oxidation. Differential pulse voltammetry and square wave voltammetry were efficient electrochemical techniques in the determination of tyramine with excellent linear range and low limit of detection. The method was tested for tyramine determination during the grape fermentation process. There are differences regarding tyramine concentration with different varieties of grapes and during the fermentation steps. The method was validated regarding precision, robustness, specificity, accuracy and provided excellent recovery rates (94.4–106.0%) for Brazilian red wines. •A low-cost pencil carbon graphite electrode is applied.•Electrochemical determination of tyramine is applied.•A thorough validation of tyramine electrochemical determination is applied.•Tyramine determination in real wine samples is applied.•Tyramine determination during grape fermentation steps is applied.