Histamine Limits by Country: A Survey and Review

Abstract

Histamine is a biogenic amine and a food safety hazard, and it is the only biogenic amine regulated by statute or HACCP Guidance. This paper reviews the regulations for histamine levels in fish in countries around the world, including maximum limits or levels and sampling procedures in different fish preparations. The maximum histamine levels, sampling plans, and fish products are listed. The country-by-country regulations for maximum histamine acceptance levels in some food products vary by a factor of 8, from 50 ppm in some countries to a maximum of 400 ppm in other countries. For similar food products, the maximum histamine levels vary by a factor of 4 (from 50 ppm to 200 ppm) in, for example, fresh tuna. The country-by-country sampling plans vary widely as well and these, too, are covered in detail. Molecules of histamine are formed from L-histidine molecules, an amino acid, by a decarboxylation reaction caused by a bacterial enzyme, histidine decarboxylase. Histamine can form in many different species of saltwater fish that have elevated levels of free L-histidine. Histamine formation is completely preventable, and these methods are described as well. Although there are multiple maximum histamine acceptance levels, rapidly chilling the fish immediately after harvest by any means available is the only method to stop the formation of histamine. Fishermen should rapidly chill the fish using ice, chilled seawater, dense cold brine, or air blast freezers as quickly as possible.

Physicochemical and microbiological changes in postmortem crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) stored at 4 °C and 25 °C

“…In addition, putrescine, spermine, spermidine and cadaverine might react with nitrite to form carcinogenic nitrosoamines (Zhai et al ., 2012). Histamine could cause poisoning (Park et al ., 2019) and the toxicity of histamine would be strengthened by putrescine and cadaverine (Debeer et al ., 2021). However, the contents of histamine were quite low in postmortem crayfish and far below the limit (100 mg kg −1 ) allowed by the European Union legislation (Visciano et al ., 2020).…”

Prioritization of Food-Chemical Hazard Pairs of Indonesian Fishery Products Based on Export Rejection Year 2017-2019

“…These rejections were due to violating the limit set by the authorities; for example, a maximum of two of nine samples in a batch may contain 100-200 ppm histamine in canned products (EU). Moreover, only two or less of 18 samples may have 50-500 ppm histamine in fresh or frozen fish in the US (Debeer et al, 2021). Despite their low contribution to rejections, chemical hazards are still a major concern for food safety due to their significant impact on human health.…”

Critical review on microextraction techniques used in determination of histamine in food samples

“…It is characterized by a variety of symptoms similar to allergic reactions, but the exact role of histamine for the scombroid poisoning is not known [6]. The histamine poisoning can be easily distinguished from the food allergy based on the following points: (1) the lack of a previous history of allergic reactions to the incriminated food, (2) the high attack rate in the group outbreaks, and (3) the measure of high levels of histamine in the incriminated food [7]. The oral administration of pure histamine does not cause any systemic effects as compared to the scombroid.…”