Food Protection Trends - November/December 2024 - 519

TABLE 3. Environment, food types, and food matrices for histamine-forming bacteria
activity (cont.)
Environment Food type
Food matrix
Seafood, Indian mackerel
Seafood, longtail & eastern little tuna
Seafood, multiple fish species
Seafood, Pacific mackerel
Seafood, sailfish
Seafood
Marine
Seafood, sailfish & milkfish
Seafood, salted dried fish
Seafood, sardines
Seafood, scombroid
Seafood, shrimp, marine, brackish
Seafood, swordfish
Seafood, tuna sausage
Seafood, tuna waste
Seafood, various sources
Seafood, yellowfin tuna
Ocean water
Overall total
This article does not list, quantify, or compare the
histamine formation of the HFB, because this ability is
not often detailed in the published literature. In addition,
individual species are not identified as psychrophilic,
mesophilic, or thermophilic, because bacterial serovars
of some species can assume more than one of these three
conditions. For example, Weissella paramesenteroides,
a known HFB, is identified as being psychrophilic,
mesophilic, or thermophilic, depending on the strain
involved (2).
All of these HFB include a notation that the species name
was correct for mid-2024 or identified in the literature as a
synonym name (Appendix A). Multiple species were found
that were identified with different names (synonyms) by
different authors at different periods. These HFB are listed
as synonyms in Appendix A. The number of species with
synonyms identified in a search of the available literature
was 35. Appendix B lists the HFB with the authors and DOI
numbers of the source documentation.
HFB were identified in a multitude of food matrices.
Table 3 is divided into 3 sections: environment, food
types, and food matrices. The food matrices within the
seafood type had by far the most citations of HFB, with
291 mentions by all bacterial species or genera recorded.
Fermented foods, including fermented seafood, were cited
Water samples, Gulf of Mexico
Count Subtotal Total
21
14
67
11
14
1
7
6
10
25
2
8
7
25
10
16
291
16
393
in association with 98 bacterial species or genera. Many
citations are expected to be duplicates, but an order of
magnitude is provided for the sources of HFB within food
matrices and/or types. The phyla, classes, orders, families,
and genera of the unique HFB are listed in Table 4.
DISCUSSION
About 30,000 formally named bacterial species have been
cultured, but there are likely a million to a billion unnamed
species (15). Curtis et al. (11) estimate that there are 2 million
bacterial taxa in the sea. As can be readily seen by what
has been provided in this compilation, the number of HFB,
with fewer than 150 named species, is a tiny percentage of
the total number of bacterial species.
In this compilation of HFB, the genera with the highest
numbers of unique species were Bacillus (14), Lactobacillus
(11), and Staphylococcus (8). The families with the highest
numbers of genera were Lactobacillaceae (31), Enterobacteriaceae
(29), and Vibrionaceae (17). The orders with the most
reported HFB species were Enterobacterales (44), Lactobacillales
(39), Bacillales (27) and Vibrionales (17).
In conclusion, the authors hope this compilation of
HFB is useful to future researchers when they are studying
an unknown source of histamine. Both authors have had
occasions in the past in which they could have used this list.
November/December Food Protection Trends 519
307
Food Protection Trends - November/December 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Food Protection Trends - November/December 2024
