The histamine content of fish sold in the Greek retail market was surveyed and the performance of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and enzyme-linked immunoabsorbant assay (ELISA) methods for the determination of histamine were compared. A total of 125 samples of fresh and canned tuna, fresh and canned sardines, deep frozen swordfish, smoked and deep frozen mackerel, anchovies, salted and smoked herring were analysed by HPLC (55 samples), ELISA (106 samples) and both methods (36 samples). Histamine levels as determined by HPLC, ranged from 2.7 mg kg(-1) to 220 mg kg(-1). The highest histamine concentrations obtained by HPLC were found in herring and anchovy samples. Eight out of the 55 samples (14.5%) analysed by HPLC, exceeded the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) limit (50 mg kg(-1)), while 16 out of the 106 samples (15%) analysed by ELISA exceeded the limit. The results show that for histamine concentrations below 50 mg kg(-1), there is good agreement between the ELISA and HPLC but above 50 mg kg(-1) big differences were found.
Keywords: Greece; anchovy; enzyme-linked immunoabsorbant assay (ELISA), high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC); fish; herring; histamine; histamine fish poisoning; tuna.