title: Histamine behavior during the fermentation process in the manufacture of fish sauce.
abstract: The behavior of histamine in fish sauce making was investigated using fresh and spoiled fish with or without histidine added during fermentation. The histamine content in the 2% histidine added fresh fish mixture did not change significantly even after a lapse of 4 months incubation. However, when histidine was added to spoiled fish, the histamine content rose to a high level but decreased continuously with incubation time. This decrease may suggest the presence of histamine-decomposing bacteria in the samples. Eight of the 10 commercial fish sauces analyzed contained histamine levels below the "decomposition level" of 50 mg/kg set by the FDA. The increase in histamine at the initial stage and the decrease in histidine might suggest that histidine was converted to histamine by a microorganism possessing the enzyme histidine decarboxylase.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Science for Human Life, Ochanomizu University, 2-1-1 Otsuka, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-8610, Japan. lita@cc.ocha.ac.jp
authors.forename: N G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Sanceda
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ohashi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kurata
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003212:Condiments / Q000032:analysis*; D005285:Fermentation; D005399:Fishes; D005511:Food Handling; D006632:Histamine / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D006639:Histidine / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D006639:Histidine; D006632:Histamine