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Culinary Info and Fish Preparation Q&As
By Fishing & Food Editor Renee Shelton

Improper Temperature Storage Dangers for Fish:

Scombroid Poisoning

Scombridae is the family name of the fish associated with Scombroid Fish Poisoning. Fish include: tuna, mahi mahi (dolphinfish or dorado), amberjack, mackerel and others. Fish may or may not have an indicating odor. Affected fish, if consumed, may have a metallic taste due to histamine presence. This poisoning results from eating fish that is spoiled; this cannot be cooked out. Delayed refrigeration or refrigeration that is not adequate enough results in natural bacteria found in these warm water fish to grow in abundance.

Symptoms Include:

• Throbbing, or intense headache
• Palpitations
• Severe cramps
• Sunburn-like flushing involving face, sometimes neck, upper torso and arms

Surfaces within few minutes to 1 hour after eating infected fish. Symptoms last 8 to 12 hours, fatalities extremely rare.

Remember these are only guidelines. Contact your local extension service for more information or a seafood governmental agency.

Wanting more information on the web about the above topic? Check out these online resources for scombroid related poisoning:

For more information on Scombroid poisoning, from the U.S. Food and Drug Adminstration Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition:
http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/sea-scm.html

For more information on Scombroid poisoning and Histamines, from the New Zealand Food Safety Authority:
http://www.nzfsa.govt.nz/consumers/food-safety-topics/foodborne-illnesses/scombroid-poisoning/scombroid-poisoning-faq.htm

Great resource list for Scombroid poisoning from the Food Safety Research Information Office (FSRIO):
http://fsrio.nal.usda.gov/document_reslist.php?product_id=144

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More Fish Preparation Guidelines:

Basic food handling safety and preperation guidelines.

Marine Envenomation.

Precautions for amberjacks, barracuda and other carnivorous fish (ciguatoxin).

Improper temperature storage dangers for tuna, mahi mahi, bonito, mackerel and other related fish (scombroid poisoning).

Fish purchasing guidelines (for finfish, mollusks and crustaceans).

Refrigerated storage for fish and shellfish.

Storage times for frozen and canned fish and shellfish.

Catching and keeping fish safely while boating.

Defrosting fish and seafood in a microwave.