Histamine Formation and Bacterial Spoilage of Albacore Harvested off the U.S. Northwest Coast

Iced and previously frozen albacore were monitored for histamine formation and bacterial growth during storage at 0–37°C. The optimum temperature for histamine formation in albacore tuna (Thunnus alalunga) was 25°C, and whole fish were more susceptible to histamine formation than dressed fish at that temperature. Storage at 25°C resulted in the highest histamine level, 60.4 mg/100g in whole fish stored for 7 days. When albacore were frozen prior to storage, reduced amount of histamine was found at 7.14 mg/100 g after 7 day storage at 25°C, only after decomposition became obvious. No histamine was found in any of the albacore samples stored in ice for 18 days.