23 novembre 2007

Histamine in tuna fish but not only

The European RASFF is still pointing out seafood products with high histamine contamination. Regular checks performed at the borders of the EU and in the internal market are often reporting cases of histamine contamination.

RASFF declares that last 14 November, a tuna fish batch coming from the Philippines and already distributed on the Italian market, was found contaminated with histamine level of 2187 ppm, while the maximum residue limits allowed within the EU are set between 100 and 400 ppm (depending on the sampling method and product preparation).
A lot of concern is arising also from canned tuna coming from the Philippines and distributed in the Poland market, also contaminated with histamine.
Besides tuna fish alerts, there are also reports on contaminations in bluefish. RASFF reported, for example, two severe histamine contaminations in Thai mackerel and Moroccan pilchards stopped at the borders of Greece and Germany respectively, due to histamine levels over the limits of the EU.