Investigation of the contents of biogenic amines and some food safety parameters of various commercially salted fish products.

摘要

Seventy-eight salted fish products originating from Turkey and European countries were analyzed for their content of biogenic amines (BA), water activity (a_w), salt and moisture, and their microbiological counts. About 10% of the samples exceeded regulated histamine levels established by the FDA and/or EU authorities. The highest histamine value was found for brined anchovy as 422 ppm. Among the other BAs, the highest level was obtained for tyramine as 524 ppm. The low a_w (<0.9) values were obtained with samples containing water phase salt (%WPS) content over 20%. Brined and dry salted products had higher %WPS than lakerda, which is a Turkish and Greek salted fish product. Despite of salt used as preservative agent in fish processing, it is found that salting alone is not enough to guarantee low levels of histamine and other BAs. This study indicated that commercial salted fish products, particularly lakerda, may still present health risk for BAs depending on processing technique, handling and storage conditions of raw material, and during processing. Therefore, processors and regulatory bodies are advised to re-evaluate their productions for safe handling measures