Histamine formation in tuna

Skipjack contains the highest histidine levels reported among various tunas (20, 24) consequently, histamine formation in decomposed skipjack should be relatively high. 

Figure 1 shows the extent of histamine formation in whole skipjack tuna at temperatures over the range of 15.6 C to 48.9 C. After incubation for 24 h, samples were taken from the anterior section of... 

Figure 1. Effect of incubation temperature on histamine formation in skipjack tuna.

The intestine is believed to be a major source of bacteria responsible for histamine formation in skipjack tuna (25). The higher level and rate of histamine formation in the anterior section are related to the location of the intestinal tract in the forward end of the fish. Postmortem disintegration of the intestine liberates its microbial contents into the visceral cavity and anterior muscle tissue. 

Figure 3. Bacterial growth and histamine formation in skipjack tuna at 38 °C. Reproduced with permission from Ref. Copyright...

The effect of temperature on histamine formation has been the subject of many studies (Table 6.5). Different studies reported 100-fold variations in histamine concentrations in skipjack tuna allowed to spoil under similar conditions. Although the information in Table 6.5 contains substantial variation, it is obvious that longer storage times and higher temperatures seem to induce histamine production. Control of biogenic amine production by low temperatures (for example 0°C) is consistently observed. 

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... 

Bacterial Growth and Histamine Formation. The quantitative relationship between histamine formation and the microbial flora in skipjack tuna at 38 C is shown in Figure 3. At intervals during incubation samples were removed from the second section and assayed for histamine content and bacterial numbers. After 24 h the anaerobic bacterial count was 3.5 x 10 per g, and the histamine content was 297 mg per 100 g. Anaerobic counts were used to measure the microbial population because over 92% of the bacteria found in decomposed skipjack tuna were obligate or facultative anaerobes (Table I). 

Frank, H. A. (1985). Histamine-forming bacteria in tuna and other marine fish. In Histamine in Marine Products Production of Bacteria, Measurement and Prediction of Formation (B. S. Pan, and D. James, Eds.), pp. 2-3. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper 252. 

Decomposition of tuna and other scombroid marine fish (albacore, bonito, mackerel, sardines, etc.) is usually characterized by the formation of high levels of histamine (1- ) > sometimes in excess of 5 mg per g of loin tissue. Since fresh tuna has essentially no free histamine (j4- ), the presence of histamine is considered to be an indication of decomposition (8-10), Histamine is particularly suitable as an indicator of prior spoilage in canned tuna ( 2, 11-13)... 

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