Overview

This document specifies a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method to analyse histamine in fish and fishery products (fish sauces, fish maturated by enzyme in brine, etcetera) intended for human consumption. Histamine is a causative agent of scombroid poisoning or histamine fish poisoning. Histamine can be present mainly in Scombridae (tuna, mackerel) and Clupeidae (herring, sardine), species which contain a high level of free histidine. Histamine is formed through the decarboxylation of histidine by microbiological histidine decarboxylase. Histamine is defined as a biologically active low molecular weight basic nitrogenous molecule. The consumption of food containing significant concentration of histamine can cause symptoms similar to those associated to food allergies. This document was developed in response to the need to standardize a method for histamine detection and quantification in fish and fishery products, in particular for European Regulation 2073/2005 on microbiological criteria for foodstuffs. The standards committee NA 057-01-06 AA "Mikrobiologie der Lebensmittelkette" ("Microbiology of the food chain") at DIN Standards Committee Food and Agricultural Products (NAL) is responsible for this standard.

Responsible national committee

NA 057-01-06-07 AK - Histamines  

Responsible european committee

CEN/TC 463 - Microbiology of the food chain  

Responsible international committee

ISO/TC 34/SC 9 - Microbiology