A precise analysis of biogenic amines is important as an indicator of food freshness or spoilage that can cause serious toxicity. This book provides comprehensive background information on biogenic amines and their occurrence in various foods and drinks such as fermented and non-fermented sausages and fish products, cheeses, vegetables and beverages, e.g. beer, cider and wine. It gives a detailed description of both the established analytical methods and the emerging technologies for the analysis of them. As the first book on the detection of biogenic amines in all types of food, it provides help to get a better understanding of the risks associated with biogenic amines and how to avoid them. It serves as an excellent and up-to-date reference for food scientists, food chemists and food safety professionals.

Histamine is a naturally occurring substance that is derived from the decarboxylation of amino acids. It can be present in certain foods containing free histidine. Certain bacteria produce the enzyme histidine decarboxylase during growth. This enzyme reacts with free histidine, a naturally occurring amino acid that is present in higher proportions in certain species of fish, particularly those of the Scombridae and Scomberesocidae families. The result is the formation of histamine. Histamine poisoning is often referred to as scombrotoxin fish poisoning (SFP) because of the frequent association of the illness with the consumption of spoiled scombroid fish. SFP is most commonly linked to fish that have a high level of free histidine. Histamine formation is then dependent on the time/temperature conditions under which the fish is handled. Even in fish with high levels of free histidine, the available data suggest that high histamine levels are as a result of gross time/temperature abuse during handling and storage. Compared with scombroid fish, which have free histidine levels ranging from approximately 5 000 mg/kg to 20 000 mg/kg, most species in the Salmonidae family have less than 1000 mg/kg histidine. Nevertheless some concerns have been raised about the potential risk of SPF or SPF-like illness linked to Salmonidae, considering these fish are globally traded with 80% of global production entering international trade. This report describes the methods and findings of a comprehensive literature review undertaken to assess the scientific evidence regarding the risk of histamine development in fish of the family Salmonidae and the potential impact for human health.

The Bad Bug Book 2nd Edition, released in 2012, provides current information about the major known agents that cause foodborne illness.Each chapter in this book is about a pathogen—a bacterium, virus, or parasite—or a natural toxin that can contaminate food and cause illness. The book contains scientific and technical information about the major pathogens that cause these kinds of illnesses.A separate “consumer box” in each chapter provides non-technical information, in everyday language. The boxes describe plainly what can make you sick and, more important, how to prevent it.The information provided in this handbook is abbreviated and general in nature, and is intended for practical use. It is not intended to be a comprehensive scientific or clinical reference.The Bad Bug Book is published by the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Food Safety is an increasingly important issue. Numerous foodcrises have occurred internationally in recent years (the use ofthe dye Sudan Red I; the presence of acrylamide in various friedand baked foods; mislabelled or unlabelled genetically modifiedfoods; and the outbreak of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease)originating in both primary agricultural production and in the foodmanufacturing industries. Public concern at these and other eventshas led government agencies to implement a variety of legislativeactions covering many aspects of the food chain. This book presents and compares the HACCP and ISO 22000:2005food safety management systems. These systems were introduced toimprove and build upon existing systems in an attempt to addressthe kinds of failures which can lead to food crises. Numerouspractical examples illustrating the application of ISO 22000 to themanufacture of food products of animal origin are presented in thisextensively-referenced volume. After an opening chapter whichintroduces ISO 22000 and compares it with the well-establishedHACCP food safety management system, a summary of internationallegislation relating to safety in foods of animal origin ispresented. The main part of the book is divided into chapters whichare devoted to the principle groups of animal-derived foodproducts: dairy, meat, poultry, eggs and seafood. Chapters are alsoincluded on catering and likely future directions. The book is aimed at food industry managers and consultants;government officials responsible for food safety monitoring;researchers and advanced students interested in food safety.

This technical paper compiles the state of knowledge on seafood safety and quality with the aim to provide a succinct yet comprehensive resource book to seafood quality and safety managers, including topics on emerging issues such as new pathogens, the impact of climate change on seafood safety, and the changing regulatory framework. After introductory chapters about world fish production, trade, consumption and nutrition, and about the developments in safety and quality systems, the technical paper devotes a chapter to a detailed review of the hazards causing public health concerns in fish and fish products, covering biological (pathogenic bacteria, histamine, viruses, parasites and biotoxins), chemical (veterinary drugs, industrial organic contaminants, environmental inorganic contaminants and allergens) and physical hazards. This is followed by a chapter on seafood spoilage and quality issues, while a further chapter covers the likely impact of climate change on seafood safety. The latter chapter focuses on impacts on microbiological safety and on harmful algal blooms. A further chapter provides a detailed coverage of the implementation and certification of seafood safety systems covering risk mitigation and management tools, with a detailed description of the requirements for the implementation of: good hygiene practices and good manufacturing practices; the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system; and the monitoring programmes to control biotoxins, pathogenic bacteria and viruses and chemical pollutants. It concludes with a section on private labelling and certification schemes. The subsequent chapter details the international framework, covering the World Trade Organization, the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, and the World Organisation for Animal Health. It then presents the regulatory frameworks governing seafood trade in the European Union (Member Organization), the United States of America, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. --Page v.