Is mackerel high in histamine?
Mackerel is high in histamine risk: it belongs to the tuna family, whose flesh is rich in the histidine that bacteria turn into histamine. Smoked, canned and leftover mackerel carry the most risk.
- Histamine
- Varies by sample
- Other amines
- Notable levels
- 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 | Fresh oily fish averaged 3.27 mg/kg in 49 samples but reached 111.26 mg/kg; mackerel was not reported separately. |
| 10 published low-histamine diets 1 | 9 of 10 exclude fish; mackerel is one of the species singled out. | |
| FAO/WHO review, 2018 2 | Scombroid fish, mackerel's family, have about 5,000–20,000 mg/kg of free histidine, the raw material for histamine. | |
| EU food law 3 | Sets legal histamine limits for fish from histidine-rich families, mackerel's (Scombridae) among them. | |
| Histamine intolerance review, 2020 4 | Histamine poisoning from fish was long called scombroid poisoning, after the mackerel and tuna family. | |
| SIGHI food list 5 | See source | See SIGHI's own list for its rating. |
Measured histamine
| Food tested | Samples | Histamine | Other amines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fresh oily fish sold in Spain (group; species not given) 1 (Table 1 and Section 3) | 49 | mean 3.27 mg/kg, range nd–111.26 mg/kg, 95th percentile 6.66 mg/kg | cadaverine mean 13.22 mg/kg (up to 400.23); the highest histamine sample was salmon |
| Preserved and semi-preserved fish sold in Spain (group) 1 (Table 1 and Section 3) | 151 | mean 10.03 mg/kg, range nd–657.05 mg/kg, 95th percentile 20.39 mg/kg | the highest sample was canned sardines |
mg/kg = milligrams of histamine per kilogram of food. "Not detected" means below the laboratory's detection limit.
How freshness and processing change it
Mackerel needs to be kept cold from catch to plate, because bacteria turn its abundant free histidine into histamine. Cooking, smoking and canning do not remove histamine that has formed. Buy it very fresh or frozen, cook it that day, and do not keep cooked mackerel for later.
Fresh oily fish is usually low, but outliers exceed 100 mg/kg; it depends on the cold chain. (estimate)
Not measured; a histidine-rich fish that has been processed and stored for longer. (estimate)
Preserved fish (group) averaged 10.03 mg/kg; one can reached 657.05. Canning heat does not lower histamine. (measured)
Not measured. Storage time adds histamine, and reheating does not remove it. (estimate)
Why we rate mackerel 3
Mackerel is the fish that gave histamine poisoning its old name. It belongs to the Scombridae family, together with tuna, and for a long time the illness was called scombroid poisoning. The reason is in the flesh. A 2018 FAO/WHO review puts free histidine in scombroid fish at roughly 5,000 to 20,000 mg/kg, against less than 1,000 mg/kg in most of the salmon family, and bacteria such as Morganella morganii turn that histidine into histamine when the fish is not kept cold. The same review says that even in histidine-rich fish, high histamine levels follow gross abuse of time and temperature during handling and storage, so well-handled mackerel is not automatically high. The difficulty is that you have no way to check it at home.
There is no mackerel-only measurement in the studies we use. Fresh oily fish sold in Spain, a group whose species are not listed, averaged 3.27 mg/kg across 49 samples, and 95% had 6.66 mg/kg or less; the highest, a salmon, had 111.26 mg/kg. Preserved and semi-preserved fish averaged 10.03 mg/kg across 151 samples, with 95% at or below 20.39 mg/kg, but the highest, a can of sardines, reached 657.05 mg/kg. Smoked mackerel was not measured at all.
European law treats the family as a known risk. Regulation 2073/2005 sets histamine limits for fish from histidine-rich families, Scombridae among them: nine samples from a batch must average no more than 100 mg/kg, no more than two may fall between 100 and 200 mg/kg, and none may exceed 200 mg/kg. Nine of the ten low-histamine diets in a 2021 review exclude fish, and the review names mackerel among the species most prone to histamine. Histamine is heat-stable, so grilling, smoking or canning does not remove what formed before.
We rate mackerel 3, "high". Our rule gives the top rating to histidine-rich fish with documented samples above 100 mg/kg even when the average is low, because one badly kept fish looks like any other. Very fresh or frozen mackerel cooked the day you buy it is a lower risk, which we estimate at 2; smoked, canned and leftover mackerel get the full rating. If you want an oily fish, fresh trout or salmon, which come from the low-histidine salmon family, are the closer swaps.
Questions about mackerel and histamine
Is smoked mackerel high in histamine?
It was not measured in the studies we use. Mackerel is a histidine-rich fish, and smoked mackerel has been processed and stored for longer than fresh fish, so we rate it 3 as an estimate. Smoking does not remove histamine that formed before.
Is canned mackerel high in histamine?
We rate it 3. Canned and semi-preserved fish in a Spanish survey averaged 10.03 mg/kg, and most were low, but one can, of sardines, reached 657.05 mg/kg. Canning heat does not lower histamine, and mackerel was not reported separately.
Evidence behind this page
- Histamine poisoning from fish was long called scombroid poisoning because of its association with the Scombridae family, which includes tuna and mackerel; bacteria such as Morganella morganii are among the most prolific histamine formers in fish. 4
- Scombroid fish have roughly 5,000 to 20,000 mg/kg of free histidine, against under 1,000 mg/kg in most of the salmon family, and even in histidine-rich fish high histamine levels follow gross time and temperature abuse. 2
- Fresh oily fish sold in Spain averaged 3.27 mg/kg of histamine across 49 samples, with 95% at or below 6.66 mg/kg; the highest, a salmon, had 111.26 mg/kg. 1
- Preserved and semi-preserved fish averaged 10.03 mg/kg across 151 samples, with 95% at or below 20.39 mg/kg; the highest, canned sardines, had 657.05 mg/kg. 1
- For fish from histidine-rich families, EU law requires nine samples from a batch to average no more than 100 mg/kg of histamine, with at most two between 100 and 200 mg/kg and none above 200 mg/kg. 3
- The heat used to make canned fish does not reduce biogenic amines. 1
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)
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; World Health Organization. Histamine in Salmonids: Joint FAO/WHO Literature Review. World Health Organization, Geneva, 2018. Link (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; World Health Organization 2018)
- European Commission. Commission Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005 on microbiological criteria for foodstuffs. Official Journal of the European Union L 338, 2005. Link (European Commission 2005)
- 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)