In fish-based foods, one of the effects of inappropriate storage can be the formation of biogenic amines. Among these, histamine is considered one of the most toxic. The purpose of the present study is to assess the occurrence of histamine in fish-based pet foods, and to evaluate the changes in histamine content during storage at different temperatures. For the analysis, an LC-MS/MS method was used. Fifty-eight pet foods were purchased, and an aliquot of them was analyzed just after opening the packages. Histamine was detected in 12 samples and concentrations ranged from 1.5 to 30.1 mg/kg. The remaining of each positive sample was divided into seven subsamples. One of them was used as a control sample and kept at -20 °C, while the other six were exposed to different environmental conditions. Samples exposed to room temperature showed no significant changes in histamine levels, while samples exposed to high temperatures showed significant increases in histamine content. Finally, samples exposed to refrigerator temperature showed a slight decrease in histamine levels. Under the experimental conditions, the EU limit of 100 mg/kg established for fishery products was never exceeded. These results seem to indicate a low risk of histamine intoxication in cats fed fish-based pet food.
Keywords: LC-MS/MS; cat; histamine; pet food.