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
