Determination of histamine in canned tuna fish available in Tehran market by ELISA method

Histamine is one of the well-known biogenic amines and responsible for causing allergic reactions. The presence of biogenic amines in the foodstuff is harmful, if it enters in a large amount to blood. In sea-food products, due to lack of proper storage at appropriate temperatures (freezing), histamine may be formed and will remain in the product, since it is already dry and heat resistance. Hazard of histamine consumption and average amount of canned fish consumed worldwide makes histamine measurement in canned fish very important. In this study 56 samples from 22 different brands were assessed and Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) was used by spectro-photometry for histamine detection. Our study showed that histamine levels in canned fish available in Tehran market, though it is high (5.75±5.98 mg/100 g tuna), but is not in a hazardous state (p<0.01). Our research showed that lowest and highest histamine concentration were 2.14±0.17 and 21.69±0.11 mg/100 g of fish respectively. It also indicates that medium does not affect the histamine content. There were no significant differences in the samples of fish and tuna fish for histamine. The amount of histamine in the tuna was below the standard limit (<50 mg histamine/100 g). Further studies should be carried out to investigate the presence of histamine in various fish and other sea-food.