Histamine poisoning

This type for food poisoning may result from eating fish of the scombroid group as well as related fish tuna. Their flesh normally contains large amounts of free histidine.

Also called scombroid food poisoning, scombroid is a type of food poisoning caused by eating foods with elevated levels of histamine.

Initially, the disease was associated with consumption of scombroid fish such s tuna, mackerel, bonito and saury.

Now, other types of fish have also have been identified as causing the intoxication, including mahimahi, bluefish, jack, mackerel, amberjack, herring, sardine and anchovy. 

As much as 1 percent histidine on wet-weight basis can exist in the muscle tissue of such fish. The worldwide network for harvesting, processing and distribution of fish and fish products has made scombroid poisoning a global problem.

Numerous species of bacteria readily decarboxylate histidine, resulting in the accumulating of histamine. The histamine production is fish is a consequence of improper handling and storage of fish after capture.

If fish are stored incorrectly e.g. at too high a temperature for a long period, bacteria naturally occurring in the product can form histamine and other biogenic amines by hydrolysis of fish proteins and subsequent decarboxylation of the formed amino acids.

Histamine is a blood vessel dilator, and the consumption of excessive quantities can produce allergic-type poisoning symptoms.

Symptoms include headaches, rash, and increase blood pressure, which can progress to gastrointestinal problems and hospitalization in high risk group.

In the United States, scombroid fish poisoning has been caused dominantly by mahimahi, tuna and bluefish.
Histamine poisoning

Scombroid group of fish

The scombroid fish is a group of about 100 species that include mackerel, tuna, marlin and swordfish. The term scombroid originated from the Scombridae family of fish, because these fish have high levels of histidine in the muscles.

It is a moderately common technical term in zoology, deriving ultimately from the Greek scombros = tuna, which also led via Latin to scomber as an uncommon English word for mackerel. Scombroid fish are deep seas species such as tuna bonito and mackerel.

Fish like mackerel can be found in the western Atlantic from North Caroline to Labrador and in the east from the Baltic Sea south through the Mediterranean and into North Africa.

Scombroid fish have characteristically high concentration of the amino-acid histidine, which is transformed by a bacterial decarboxylase enzyme into histamine.

This enzyme is found in bacteria belonging to the Enterobacteriaceae, particularly Proteus morganii, Klebsiella and Hafnia spp.
Scombroid group of fish