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Review
. 2020 Dec 3;9(12):1795.
doi: 10.3390/foods9121795.

An Overview of Histamine and Other Biogenic Amines in Fish and Fish Products

Pierina Visciano  1 , Maria Schirone  1 , Antonello Paparella  1
Affiliations
Review

An Overview of Histamine and Other Biogenic Amines in Fish and Fish Products

Pierina Visciano et al. Foods. .

Abstract

The occurrence of biogenic amines in fish is directly associated with microorganisms with decarboxylase activity. These compounds are generally detoxified by oxidases in the intestinal tract of humans, but some conditions, such as alcohol consumption, enzyme deficiency, or monoamino-oxidase antidepressant use, can make their intake by food dangerous. Due to its toxicity, histamine is a unique biogenic amine with regulatory limits for fishery products. This review focuses on biogenic amines in fish, with a detailed picture of the number of alert notifications or intoxication events reported in the last years. The favoring conditions for their formation, as well as the main preventive and control measures to ensure public health, are also reviewed.

Keywords: biogenic amines; histamine food poisoning; outbreaks; seafood safety.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
List of notifying countries and number of notifications for histamine presence in “fish and fish products” by the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed from 1 January 2015 to 31 August 2020.
Figure 2
Figure 2
List of countries of origin with notifications of histamine presence in “fish and fish products” by the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed from 1 January 2015 to 31 August 2020.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Distribution of histamine in fish species according to the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed from 1 January 2015 to 31 August 2020.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Presence of histamine in different fish products according to the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed from 1 January 2015 to 31 August 2020.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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