Survey Of The Histamine Content In Fish Samples Randomly Selected From The Greek Retail Market

摘要

The histamine content of fish sold in the Greek retail market was surveyed and the performance of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and enzyme-linked immunoabsorbant assay (EL1SA) methods for the determination of histamine were compared. A total of 125 samples of fresh and canned tuna, fresh and canned sardines, deep frozen swordfish, smoked and deep frozen mackerel, anchovies, salted and smoked herring were analysed by HPLC (55 samples). ELISA (106 samples) and both methods (36 samples). Histamine levels as determined by HPLC, ranged from 2.7mg kg~(-1) to 220mg kg~(-1). The highest histamine concentrations obtained by HPLC were found in herring and anchovy samples. Eight out of the 55 samples (14.5%) analysed by HPLC, exceeded the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) limit (50mg kg~(-1)), while 16 out of the 106 samples (15%) analysed by ELISA exceeded the limit. The results show that for histamine concentrations below 50mg kg~(-1). there is good agreement between the ELTSA and HPLC but above 50mg kg~(-1) big differences were found.