AMINE CONTENT OF TOXIC AND WHOLESOME CANNED TUNA FISH

Concentrations of cadaverine, putrescine, histamine, spermidine and spermine were determined in canned wholesome tuna and in canned tuna that had been implicated in an outbreak of scombroid poisoning in humans. The method employed is a modification of established extraction and thin‐layer chromatographic techniques for analysis of amines. The average concentrations of amines in wholesome tuna were: putrescine, 0.35 mg%; cadaverine, 1.05 mg%; histamine, 2.74 mg%; spermidine, 3.26 mg%; and spermine, 1.23 mg%. Amine levels in toxic tuna ranged from 1.53 mg% and 1.16 mg% for putrescine and spermine, respectively, to 2.37 mg% for spermidine, 12.8 mg% for cadaverine, and 116 mg% for histamine. Copyright © 1979, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved