The effect of high hydrostatic pressure on histidine decarboxylase and histamine forming bacteria.

摘要

Increasing consumer demand for fresh fishery products with minimized loss of their nutritional properties is forcing food industry to look for alternative technologies to maintain the fresh attributes, stability and safety of foods. Demand for fresh tuna fish is no exception, being a valuable source of nutrients with immense health benefits. However, this product is highly perishable and has been commonly implicated in scombroid (histamine) poisoning caused by microbial decarboxylation of histidine contained in high levels in the tissues of scombroid fishes. Current techniques are inadequate for the prevention of histamine formation in fresh fishery products and high pressure processing is a potential alternative for it can inactivate microorganisms and enzymes, without affecting (or only minimally altering) the quality characteristics of foodstuffs. Previous studies have shown a decrease in histamine formation after a high pressure treatment and this study focuses on the effect of high pressure on the histidine decarboxylase enzyme and selected histamine forming microorganisms involved in histamine formation.; Commercial histidine decarboxylase suspended in different media (buffer solution and fish slurry with and without added histidine) was submitted to different high pressure treatments (200--400 MPa) with distinct time durations (0--60 min) at room temperature (20°C--25°C). Enzymatic activity of pressure treated and control samples were then compared by measuring histamine formation. Results were similar in all media; a 200 MPa treatment increased the enzymatic activity a little more than 20% as time increased; a 300 MPa treatment increased activity over 20% at first, followed by a decrease in activity as time increased only to reach a level of residual activity similar or only slightly lower than control samples; and a 400 MPa treatment reduced enzyme activity as time increased to a level of 55% residual activity in a buffer solution where the greatest inactivation was observed.; Enzyme activation and inactivation were affected by a dual effect attributed to a pulse effect, which caused a shift in activity and was independent of the length of the treatment, and a pressure-hold effect, during which activation or inactivation followed first order kinetics. The enzyme appeared highly resistant to pressure in all media as observed from D-values (>2700 min) and pressure sensitivity of destruction rate (zp) values (>500 MPa).; Inactivation of non-pathogen histamine forming bacteria (HFB) Escherichia coli K12 and Bacillus megaterium was evaluated by inoculating cultures in a fish tissue homogenate. Surviving colonies were enumerated after the treatments observing inactivation described by the same dual effect described earlier. Pressures above 300 MPa achieved a significant destruction of E. coli K12 (> 4 log-cycles) while B. megaterium appeared highly resistant for only a 2 log-cycle reduction was observed after at the highest pressure treatment conditions (400 MPa, 20 min).; D-values for both microorganisms decreased as pressure increased being significantly smaller for E. coli K 12, which also appeared to be more sensitive to pressure changes as observed from the zp values (zp = 151.51 MPa and zp = 909.10 MPa for E. coli and B. megaterium respectively. Inactivation caused by the pulse effect appeared very effective for both microorganisms as pressure increased, particularly at 400 MPa (PE > 1.25).