Detection of Histamine in Fish and Fishery Products in Osaka Prefecture (Fiscal 2015 Report)

Histamine food poisoning is caused by ingestion of spoiled fish containing high levels of histamine. This paper reports cases in which histamine was detected in Osaka prefecture in fiscal year 2015 in a survey of fish and fishery products on the market and the food poisoning. A suspected case of histamine food poisoning was also evaluated to investigate the cause and minimize further problems. Histamine in food was separated on SPE cartridge columns, and analyzed after derivatization with fluorescamine by means of HPLC-FL. Histamine was detected in some fishery products on the market and in food that had caused poisoning. The samples in which histamine was detected were semi-dried whole round herring (Urumeiwashi-maruboshi), mackerel (Saba) and sardine dumpling (Iwashi-tsumire). These foods were the main causes of histamine food poisoning according to the report of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Government of Japan.