Does Oenococcus oeni produce histamine?

Abstract

The presence of histamine in wine and other fermented foods may pose a toxicological risk for consumers. Production of histamine by Oenococcus oeni, which is the main agent of malolactic fermentation in wine and thus very important for the wine industry, has been extensively analyzed with contradictory results. If histamine production by O. oeni strains is a widespread trait, enological practices will be affected and the use of non-producing commercial O. oeni starters should be strongly recommended to avoid histamine production during winemaking. However, a review of published data showed that most evidence strongly supports the view that O. oeni is not responsible for histamine production in wine. We therefore propose the adoption of common analytical methods and the introduction of publicly-available validated histamine-producing O. oeni reference strains as a common positive control in assays to resolve this important issue.