Is celery high in histamine?

Why we rate celery 0

Celery has not been tested for histamine in any study we use. The only related figure is for celeriac, the knobbly root of a celery variety. One study collected in a 2018 review by a University of Barcelona team measured putrescine in three celeriac samples and found an average of 6.1 mg/kg, ranging from 3.7 to 7.7 mg/kg. Histamine was not reported. Celery stalks themselves do not appear in the tables.

So this page is an estimate, built from how celery is grown, sold and eaten. It is a fresh stalk vegetable, not fermented or aged, and it keeps well in the fridge. Celery belongs to the same plant family as carrot and parsley. Carrot had no detectable histamine in thirteen samples. Parsley's histamine did not change significantly over three weeks in the fridge in a storage study the same review cites, although the review gives no level for it. Neither result is a measurement of celery.

Celery juice has become popular, and it raises a separate point. When the 2018 review looked at fruit juices, histamine turned up in some grapefruit, orange and pineapple juices even though the fresh fruit had none, and the authors put this down to hygiene during processing or storage. Pineapple juice averaged 2.44 mg/kg across twelve samples. Celery juice was not measured, but the same logic favours juice made fresh at home over juice bottled and kept.

Celery does not appear among the foods charted as excluded by the ten published low-histamine diets in the team's 2021 review. Because that chart covers only some foods, we say only that no diet in our sources excludes it.

We rate celery 0, "low", as an estimate. It is a standard part of the onion, carrot and celery base of many soups and stews, and onion and carrot both had no detectable histamine. Some people react to celery for reasons unrelated to histamine; if celery gives you symptoms, raise it with your doctor or dietitian rather than assuming histamine is the cause.

Questions about celery and histamine

Is celery juice low histamine?

Celery juice was not measured. We estimate freshly made juice at 0. Some bottled fruit juices contained histamine that the fresh fruit did not, which one study linked to hygiene in processing or storage, so we rate bottled celery juice 1.

Is celeriac low in histamine?

Celeriac was tested only for putrescine, which averaged 6.1 mg/kg in three samples. Its histamine was not reported, so we do not rate it separately.

Evidence behind this page

• Celery does not appear in the measurement tables of the 2018 or 2021 reviews; one study collected in the 2018 review reported putrescine in celeriac at 6.1 mg/kg (3 samples, 3.7–7.7). ¹²
• Histamine found in grapefruit, orange and pineapple juices, but not in the fresh fruit, was attributed to a lack of hygiene during processing or storage; pineapple juice averaged 2.44 mg/kg in 12 samples. ¹
• Thirteen carrots sold in Spain had no detectable histamine. ¹
• Celery does not appear among the foods charted as excluded by ten published low-histamine diets. ²

Sources

1. Sánchez-Pérez S, Comas-Basté O, Rabell-González J, Veciana-Nogués MT, Latorre-Moratalla ML, Vidal-Carou MC. Biogenic Amines in Plant-Origin Foods: Are They Frequently Underestimated in Low-Histamine Diets? Foods 7(12):205, 2018. doi:10.3390/foods7120205 (Sánchez-Pérez S et al. 2018)
2. Sánchez-Pérez S, Comas-Basté O, Veciana-Nogués MT, Latorre-Moratalla ML, Vidal-Carou MC. Low-Histamine Diets: Is the Exclusion of Foods Justified by Their Histamine Content? Nutrients 13(5):1395, 2021. doi:10.3390/nu13051395 (Sánchez-Pérez S et al. 2021)
3. Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance (SIGHI). Food compatibility list for histamine intolerance. histaminintoleranz.ch (accessed November 2026), 2026. Link (Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance (SIGHI) 2026)