Histamine formation and bacterial spoilage of albacore harvested off the USNorthwest coast

Iced and previously frozen albacore were monitored for histamine formation and bacterial growth during storage at 0-37 degrees C, The optimum temperat ure for histamine formation in albacore tuna (Thunnus alalunga) was 25 degr ees C, and whole fish were more susceptible to histamine formation than dre ssed fish at that temperature. Storage at 25 degrees C resulted in the high est histamine level, 60.4 mg/100g in whole fish stored for 7 days. When alb acore were frozen prior to storage, reduced amount of histamine was found a t 7.14 mg/100 g after 7 day storage at 25 degrees C, only after decompositi on became obvious. No histamine was found in any of the albacore samples st ored in ice for 18 days.