Symptoms of scombroid poisoning include, vomiting, dizziness, rapid pulse, nausea, cramps, diarrhea, swelling, and others.

Scombroid poisoning is geographically diverse and many species have been implicated Foods with histamine concentrations exceeding 50 mg per 100 g of food are generally considered to be hazardous (Taylor et al., 1989). Histamine formation in fish can be prevented by the rapid cooling of fish after catching and adequate refrigeration during handling and storage (Gingerich et al., 1999 Kim et al., 2001). The optimum temperature for supporting growth of prolific histamine formers was found 25☌, but at 15☌ a significant level of histamine was still produced in fish muscle (Kim et al., 2001). alginolyticus (Russell and Maretic, 1986 Kim et al., 2001). The organisms most commonly involved are Proteus spp., Clostridium spp., Escherichia spp., Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Morganella morganii, followed by V. Improper storage of the fishes, usually at temperatures above 20☌, appears to be the most important predisposing factor. However, foods containing unusually high levels of histamine may not appear to be outwardly spoiled and cooking does not destroy the histamine (Lehane, 2000). The fish are non-toxic when caught, but increase in histamine content as bacterial numbers increase. Although some are present in the normal microbial flora of live fish, most of them seem to be derived from post-catching contamination on fishing vessels, at the processing plant or in the distribution system (Lehane and Olley, 2000). Histamine is formed in spoiling fish by certain bacteria that are able to de-carboxylate the amino acid, histidine. Histamine (or scombroid) poisoning is one of the most significant cause of illness associated with seafood, although frequently mis-diagnosed as “Salmonella spp. Upon the death of the fish bacterial decomposition rapidly converts this histadine to histamine, which is a toxin to mammals and may result in an illness referred to as SCOMBROID poisoning if consumed. As a direct result their muscles are constantly being rebuilt from the amino acids that circulate in the blood in the form of the amino acid histadine. Highly Migratory fish, like our Northern Pacific Canadian Albacore Tuna, swim constantly. We will come back to this further on in our discussion but first, for those that like to know the science… The reason that Tuna is sometimes implicated is that Tuna are not a cold blooded fish- they generate heat by constantly swimming and once a tuna is caught it must be chilled immediately. The issue is really inadequate refrigeration after the fish has been caught. While it is quite often miss-diagnosed, because symptoms resemble an allergic reaction, it is most commonly reported with species such as mackerel, bluefish, mahi-mahi, bonito, sardines, anchovies, and tuna. SCOMBROID food poisoning is a food-borne illness that results from eating spoiled fish.

Albacore tuna mercury poisoning