We studied the production of biogenic amines by 200 strains of lactic acid bacteria and staphylococci isolated during chilled storage from samples of Spanish dry-cured "chorizo" sausage treated with high-pressure. The presence of biogenic amines in a decarboxylase synthetic broth was confirmed by ion-exchange chromatography. β-phenylethylamine was the biogenic amine more frequently produced (22.5%), followed by tyramine (7.5%). In tyramine producer-strains the presence of a tyrosine decarboxylase gene was confirmed by PCR. Among lactic acid bacteria, the production of tyramine was mainly related to the species Lactobacillus curvatus. Most of the L. curvatus strains were also β-phenylethylamine-producers. In relation to staphylococci, tyramine-production was mainly associated to Staphylococcus carnosus strains. The S. carnosus strains analysed in this study produced β-phenylethylamine or β-phenylethylamine and tyramine simultaneously. RAPD-PCR results indicated that the biogenic amine-producer S. carnosus population changes along storage independently of the high-pressure treatment.