L’intoxication and rotten tuna is given byhistamine and it is a condition also known as “scombroid syndrome”. In the USA it is one of the most common poisonings from ingestion of fish, in Europe and in Italy, however, the cases reported are very few and above all poorly documented. Histamine develops minimally from phenomena of tissue origin and, more importantly, from the action of enzymes processed by microorganisms during the first degradative processes, this activity depends on the content of free histidine within the food substance and also on the temperature.
The higher altitudes of in the heat have been found in the muscle tissue of fish such as i tons, mackerel, sardines and herring. Temperatures between 6 ° C and 20 ° C favor the formation of aminaon the other hand, the low temperatures are able to delay its bacterial synthesis as the high ones are not able to inactivate the one already formed.
In this article we report three episodes of histamine intoxicationone of which occurs as a result of the consumption of fresh tuna and the other two are linked to the intake of preserved fish. First case: A few years ago here is the report of a suspect case intoxication from histamine of two people from the same household who went to the hospital emergency room the previous evening after eating fresh tuna simply cooked on the grill.
The onset of symptoms was highlighted similallergica during the consumption of the tuna such as to stop its ingestion and a not at all pleasant taste of the food was reported. The diagnosis made by the doctors was therefore that of a food allergy. However, a slice of tuna fish cooked belonging to the same batch as that consumed by the two gentlemen and in which the level of histamine found was 3,485 mg / kg.
Other researches have shown the Dutch provenance of tuna fish, packed in fillets. However, it was impossible to trace the species to the FAO area of fishing and to a possible treatment with flavoring or carbon monoxide as the label was no longer available. The latter possibility is to be considered very worrying as the color of the tuna remains unchanged even in the face of profound enzymatic alterations.
Second and third cases: This time the victims are two university students who ate tuna salad at a bar in the city of Grosseto. After about 15 minutes, they both began to experience redness on their face and body, a feeling of heat, itchy hands and burning eyes. About 3-5 hours after consumption, other more worrying symptoms appeared, such as diarrhea and vomiting; arrived at the emergency room, the doctors diagnosed a suspected food poisoning.