Is lamb high in histamine?
Fresh lamb is low in histamine: no histamine was found in 199 lab samples of fresh meat. Leftover roast lamb and slow-cooked dishes kept for days were not measured and rate higher.
- Histamine
- Not detected
- Other amines
- Low
- Liberator
- Not on the lists we use
- DAO blocker
- No evidence
What each source says
| Source | Verdict | What it says, in our words |
|---|---|---|
| Lab measurements, Spain 1 | Measured | No detectable histamine in 199 samples of fresh meat. Lamb was not reported separately. |
| 10 published low-histamine diets 1 | 3 of 10 exclude fresh meat. | |
| Histamine intolerance review, 2020 2 | Histamine in fresh meat comes from a lack of freshness or poor hygiene; fresh meat can be eaten. | |
| SIGHI food list 3 | See source | See SIGHI's own list for its rating. |
Measured histamine
| Food tested | Samples | Histamine | Other amines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fresh meat sold in Spain (group; species not given) 1 (Table 1) | 199 | not detected | putrescine mean 1.35 mg/kg; cadaverine mean 5.02 mg/kg (95th percentile 28.71, highest 51.16); tyramine mean 4.32 mg/kg |
mg/kg = milligrams of histamine per kilogram of food. "Not detected" means below the laboratory's detection limit.
How freshness and processing change it
The rating holds for lamb eaten on the day it is cooked. A large roast or a pot of braised lamb is often eaten over several days, and histamine can form during that storage and survives reheating. Slice and freeze what you will not eat that day once it has cooled.
Fresh meat (group) had no detectable histamine in 199 samples. (measured)
Covered by the fresh meat group; mince was not reported separately. (measured)
Not measured. Storage time adds histamine, and reheating does not remove it. (estimate)
Not measured. Storage time adds histamine, and reheating does not remove it. (estimate)
Why we rate lamb 0
Fresh lamb, like other fresh meat, is low in histamine, because histamine is not part of the meat itself: bacteria make it from histidine, an amino acid, while meat is stored. A Spanish survey found no histamine in any of 199 samples of fresh meat. The survey does not list the species, so we cannot say how many samples were lamb; lamb is covered by the fresh meat figure rather than measured on its own. Mutton, from older sheep, falls in the same group and was not reported separately either.
The other amines in that survey give a hint of how meat changes with age. Histamine was absent from every sample, but cadaverine averaged 5.02 mg/kg, 5% of samples were above 28.71 mg/kg and the highest reached 51.16 mg/kg. The paper does not explain those higher samples. In fish, the same review links cadaverine and putrescine to spoilage bacteria acting on fish that is not fresh, which is a reason to treat any meat as a food with a clock on it.
The published diets mostly agree with the measurement. Three of the ten low-histamine diets in a 2021 review exclude fresh meat, and the review says fresh meat is not expected to contain histamine as long as freshness and hygiene are guaranteed.
Lamb is often cooked in ways that test that condition. A leg or shoulder roasted for a family meal leaves leftovers that are eaten over the next few days. Shanks, tagines and curries are braised for hours and are often made a day ahead. Cooking itself does not add histamine, but every day the dish then spends in the fridge gives bacteria time to act, and reheating does not remove what they make, because amines are heat-stable. None of these forms was measured, so we rate leftovers and dishes kept for days 2, "moderate", as estimates.
We rate fresh lamb 0, "low". Chops, cutlets, steaks and joints bought fresh or frozen and eaten on the day they are cooked match what was measured. If you roast a large joint, slice what you will not eat that day and freeze it once it has cooled. Lamb mince for koftas or shepherd's pie follows the same advice as beef mince: cook it the day you buy it, or freeze it that day.
Questions about lamb and histamine
Is lamb lower in histamine than beef?
The studies we use do not separate them. Both fall in the fresh meat group, which had no detectable histamine in 199 samples. For either, how fresh the meat is and how long the cooked dish is kept matter more than the animal.
Is leftover roast lamb high in histamine?
It was not measured. We rate it 2 as an estimate, because histamine forms in cooked meat kept in the fridge and is not removed by reheating. Freezing slices once the roast has cooled keeps them closer to fresh.
Evidence behind this page
- Fresh meat sold in Spain had no detectable histamine across 199 samples; cadaverine averaged 5.02 mg/kg, with 5% of samples above 28.71 mg/kg and a highest value of 51.16 mg/kg. 1
- Spoilage bacteria acting on fish that is not fresh can form putrescine and cadaverine as well as histamine. 1
- Fresh meat is not expected to contain histamine as long as freshness and hygiene are guaranteed, and three of ten published low-histamine diets exclude it. 1
- In fresh meat, histamine reflects a lack of freshness or poor hygiene. 2
- Amines are heat-stable, so cooking changes their level only by moving them into cooking water or by concentrating or diluting the food. 4
Sources
- 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)
- Comas-Basté O, Sánchez-Pérez S, Veciana-Nogués MT, Latorre-Moratalla M, Vidal-Carou MDC. Histamine Intolerance: The Current State of the Art. Biomolecules 10(8):1181, 2020. doi:10.3390/biom10081181 (Comas-Basté O et al. 2020)
- 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)
- 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)