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Microbial Toxins and Related Contamination in the Food Industry pp 1–11Cite as

Histamine in Fish and Fishery Products

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Abstract

The consumption of certain fish products containing high levels of histamine (and other biogenic amines) can result in an acute illness with allergy-like symptoms called scombroid syndrome. Fish accumulate toxic levels of histamine when their high level of histidine in muscle tissues is coupled with a proliferation of bacteria rich in the enzyme histidine decarboxylase. Other vasoactive amines—cadaverine, putrescine, etc.—may inhibit detoxification mechanisms that reduce the intestinal absorption of histamine. Moreover, histidine can be transformed by means of another metabolic pathway leading to accumulation in fish muscle of urocanic acid. Recently, interest has been extended to mesophilic and psychrotolerant bacteria. Histamine accumulation is traditionally correlated to microbially contaminated fish and poor storage conditions. In addition, the high thermal stability has to be considered. At present, different methods are available for the analytical determination of histamine ranging from the AOAC fluorometric method to HPLC, ELISA and rapid stick methods.

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Abbreviations

ELISA:

Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay

FAO:

Food and Agriculture Organization

FDA:

Food and Drug Administration

HACCP:

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points

HPLC:

High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

WHO:

World Health Organization

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Industrial Consultant, Via Roccazzo 25, 90135, Palermo, Italy

    Salvatore Parisi

  2. ISO 9001:2008 Auditor, Viale Regione Siciliana 7275, 90100, Palermo, Italy

    Caterina Barone

  3. Industrial Consultant, via G. La Farina 3, 90141, Palermo, Italy

    Giorgia Caruso

  4. Department of Biomedical Sciences and Morphological and Functional Images, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria 1, 98125, Messina, Sicily, Italy

    Antonino Santi Delia & Pasqualina Laganà

  5. Italian National Research Council, Institute for Coastal Marine Environment, Spianata S. Raineri 86, 98122, Messina, Italy

    Gabriella Caruso

Authors
  1. Salvatore Parisi
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  2. Caterina Barone
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  3. Giorgia Caruso
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  4. Antonino Santi Delia
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  5. Gabriella Caruso
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  6. Pasqualina Laganà
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Correspondence to Salvatore Parisi .

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Parisi, S., Barone, C., Caruso, G., Santi Delia, A., Caruso, G., Laganà, P. (2015). Histamine in Fish and Fishery Products. In: Microbial Toxins and Related Contamination in the Food Industry. SpringerBriefs in Molecular Science(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20559-5_1

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