THE HISTAMINE CONTENT OF COMMERCIAL PET FOODS

The histamine contents of a range of North American commercial pet foo ds and pet food ingredients were determined by a spectrofluorometric t echnique. The change in histamine content of open cans of pet food sto red in a refrigerator or at room temperature was also investigated. Th e histamine content of the pet foods examined ranged from a low of 0.1 6 mug/g in a liquid critical care diet to a high of 65.5 mug/g in a ca nned fish diet. The amount of histamine in the foods tested was insuff icient to cause histamine toxicosis but it cannot be excluded that som e of the foods contained sufficient histamine to cause idiosyncratic r eactions in histamine-sensitive cats. Storage of opened cans of pet fo od, either under refrigeration or at room temperature, did not signifi cantly increase the histamine content of most pet foods.