Are olives high in histamine?
Olives are low in histamine: five samples sold in Spain had none, with little putrescine or tyramine, and only 1 of 10 published low-histamine diets excludes them.
- 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 5 samples; putrescine averaged 2.64 mg/kg and tyramine 1.95 mg/kg. |
| 10 published low-histamine diets 1 | 1 of 10 excludes olives. | |
| Review of low-histamine diets, 2020 2 | Fermented products are one of the two main kinds of food that can contain high histamine. | |
| SIGHI food list 3 | See source | See SIGHI's own list for its rating. |
Measured histamine
| Food tested | Samples | Histamine | Other amines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Olives sold in Spain 1 (Table 1) | 5 | not detected | putrescine mean 2.64 mg/kg (1.54–4.45); tyramine mean 1.95 mg/kg (0.28–3.94); cadaverine not detected |
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 five samples were shop-bought olives, and the paper does not say whether they were green or black, how they were cured, or how long a jar had been open. Olives kept for weeks in an opened jar or tub have not been measured. Keep them covered in their brine in the fridge, and buy smaller jars if you get through them slowly.
No histamine in 5 samples; low putrescine and tyramine. (measured)
Not measured. The filling is anchovy, a fish prone to histamine build-up. (estimate)
Why we rate olives 0
Olives surprise people who know that low-histamine diets are wary of anything cured or pickled. In the lab data they look like a low food. A University of Barcelona team tested five samples of olives sold in Spain and found no histamine and no cadaverine. Putrescine averaged 2.64 mg/kg and tyramine 1.95 mg/kg, both well under the 10 mg/kg average we treat as notable. Only one of the ten published low-histamine diets compared in the team's 2021 review excludes olives, the same as cherries, grapes and apricots.
The reason for caution is how olives are made. Raw olives are too bitter to eat, so table olives are cured in brine, salt or lye before they are sold, and some curing methods involve fermentation. Fermented foods are where histamine builds up: the same 2021 table found cured cheese averaging 33.10 mg/kg and dry-fermented sausages 21.57 mg/kg, and the review notes that histamine in fermented foods varies widely, even between samples from one production batch. The paper does not say whether its five olive samples were green or black, which variety they were, or how they were cured, so we cannot tell you whether a Kalamata from a deli counter behaves like the olives in the survey.
We rate olives 0, "low", from the measurements we have. All five samples had no histamine, other amines were low, and the lists agree. Five samples from one country is a thin base, and we would revisit the rating if a larger survey found histamine in some styles of olive.
Two practical points. Anchovy-stuffed olives are a different food: anchovy is one of the oily fish the 2021 review lists as prone to histamine build-up, so we rate them 2 as an estimate. Olives stuffed with pepper or almond were not measured either. And olive oil is not covered here; it is pressed from the fruit rather than cured, so these figures do not apply to it.
Questions about olives and histamine
Are olives fermented, and does that matter for histamine?
Many table olives are cured in brine, and some curing methods involve fermentation, which is how histamine builds up in other foods. Even so, five samples of olives sold in Spain had no detectable histamine. The paper does not say how those olives were cured.
Are green or black olives lower in histamine?
We do not know. The study reported five samples of olives without saying which kind, and none had detectable histamine. We have no separate figures for green and black olives.
Evidence behind this page
- Five samples of olives sold in Spain had no detectable histamine or cadaverine; putrescine averaged 2.64 mg/kg and tyramine 1.95 mg/kg. 1
- One of ten published low-histamine diets excludes olives. 1
- In fermented foods, histamine varies widely, even between samples from the same production batch, because it is formed by bacteria. 1
- Foods that can contain high histamine are microbiologically altered foods such as fish and meat, and fermented products whose bacteria can form amines. 2
- Low-histamine diets advise against scombroid fish such as mackerel, tuna, sardines and anchovy, which can build up histamine because of their high free histidine. 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)
- 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)