A Strategy for Controlling Histamine Formation at Tuna Precooking

This paper presents practical procedures that allow processors to determine when a batch of tuna fish is heated sufficiently to achieve a 5-log reduction in Morganella morganii, the most heat-resistant histamine-forming bacteria. The core temperatures of the largest, coldest fish in the batch are chosen to estimate the minimum temperature of the batch, because they will have the slowest heat penetration rate. The prerequisites and validations required for this procedure are presented, as well as the corrective actions that might be needed to comply with FDA seafood HACCP guidelines. An Excel spreadsheet was developed to allow for simple data input and to provide output of a decision as to whether to accept the tuna, wait, or recook the tuna. The consistent use of these procedures will produce a safe precooked tuna product, thereby allowing for an extra 12 h for tuna preparation and processing.