Foods histamine poisoning

Different people display individual patterns of susceptibility to biogenic amines in foods. Clinical signs of histamine poisoning are more severe in people taking medications which inhibit enzymes that normally detoxify histamine in the intestines. Symptoms may be gastrointestinal (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea), circulatory (hypotension), or cutaneous (rash, urticaria, palpitations, tingling. 

Taylor, S.L. (1985). Histamine Poisoning Associated With Fish, Cheese, and Other Foods, World Health Organization, pp. 1-47. 

Other Foods. Cheese has been implicated in several outbreaks of histamine poisoning in the U.S., Canada, France, and the Netherlands (5-8). Swiss cheese has been involved in all of the U.S. incidents and the French outbreak, while Cheddar and Gouda cheese were involved in the Canadian and Dutch outbreaks, respectively. Ham has allegedly been involved in an outbreak in France sauerkraut was implicated in one case in Germany (9) chicken was associated with an outbreak in Japan. 

The threshold toxic dose for histamine in foods is not precisely known. Estimates are difficult to acquire from outbreaks of histamine poisoning because of the variability in histamine content in the fish (1,65). Simidu and Hibiki ( ) estimated the threshold toxic dose for histamine in fish to be approximately 60 mg/100 g, but their methods were not terribly precise. Based on experience acquired in the investigation of hundreds of scombroid poisoning incidents, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently established 50 mg/100 g as the hazard action level for histamine in tuna. They have not yet established regulatory limits for histamine in other fish or cheese. 

Taylor, S. L., Kiefe, T. J., Windham, E. S., and Howell, J. F. (1982). Outbreak of histamine poisoning associated with consumption of Swiss cheese. J. Food Prot. 45, 455-457. 

Patients taking isoniazid who eat some foods, particularly fish from the scombroid family (tuna, mackerel, salmon) that are not fresh, may experience an exaggerated histamine poisoning reaction. Cheese has also been implicated in this reaction, but the adverse effects may be due to the weak MAOI effects of isoniazid rather than histamine poisoning. 

Bjeldanes, L., Shultz, D.E. and Morris, M.M. (1978). On the aetiology of scombroid poisoning cadaverine potentiation of histamine toxicity in the guinea-pig, Food Cosmet. Toxicol., 16, 157. 

Taylor, S. (1986). Histamine food poisoning toxicology and clinical aspects. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 17, CRC Press, Boca Raton, p. 91. 

Scombroid poisoning is caused by ingestion of foods containing unusually high levels of histamine. 

Amine build-up in fish muscle usually results from decarboxylation of amino acids in the muscle by enzymes of bacterial origin. This review will present information on the activity of bacterial decarboxylases and the formation of amines in fish. Mechanisms of decarboxylase action and production of bacterial decarboxylases in fish muscle are discussed. Emphasis is placed upon studies dealing with formation of histidine decarboxylase and histamine. Histamine, because of its involvement in Scombroid food poisoning, has been extensively studied with regard to its formation in fish and fishery products. 

Examples of amines that frequently occur in fish muscle include cadaverine from lysine, putrescine from ornithine and histamine from histidine. Histamine, because of its involvement in Scombroid food poisoning (histamine intoxication), has been extensively studied with respect to factors influencing its formation in many different fish species. Tuna and other fish from the families Scomberesocidae and Scombridae and a non-scombroid fish, mahi-mahi (dolphin fish) have been most... 

Sumner SS, Speckhard MW, Somers EB, Taylor SL Isolation of histamine-producing Lactobacillus buchneri from Swiss cheese implicated in a food poisoning outbreak. Appl Environ Microbiol 1985 50 1094-1096. 

Lehane, L., OUey, J. (2000). Histamine fish poisoning revisited. International Journal of Food Microbiology, 58, 1-37. http //dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0168-1605(00)00296-8. 

Several of these amines are found in animals and some are involved in nerve transmission see Chapter 27). When plant amines are consumed by animals, they can be quite toxic. For example, phenylethylamine (8) in Acacia berlan-dieri is poisonous to livestock (Smith, 1977b). The presence of amines in foods consumed by humans also has been noted. Catecholamines, indoleamines, and histamine (11) fulfill important metabolic functions, especially in the nervous system and in the control of blood pressure. The occasional presence of greater than usual amounts of tyramine in cheese can cause severe episodes of hypertension, especially in the presence of monoamine oxidase inhibitors, which often are used in the treatment of depression (Smith, 1981). Amines can be formed from bacterial activity in foods (Smith, 1981). 

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