Is pork high in histamine?
Fresh pork is low in histamine: no histamine was found in 199 lab samples of fresh meat. Cured and fermented pork products measured higher, and pulled pork or leftovers kept for days rate higher too.
- 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. Pork was not reported separately. |
| 10 published low-histamine diets 1 | 3 of 10 exclude fresh meat, 2 exclude cured meat and all 10 exclude dry-fermented sausages. | |
| Low-histamine diet review, 2021 1 | No histamine expected in fresh, cooked or cured meat if freshness and hygiene are guaranteed. | |
| Histamine intolerance review, 2020 2 | Lactic acid bacteria in fermented meat can produce histamine. | |
| 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; tyramine mean 4.32 mg/kg |
| Cured meat sold in Spain (group; products not given) 1 (Table 1) | 23 | mean 4.89 mg/kg, range nd–150 mg/kg, 95th percentile 3.54 mg/kg | cadaverine mean 38.03 mg/kg (up to 305) |
| Dry-fermented sausages sold in Spain (group) 1 (Table 1) | 424 | mean 21.57 mg/kg, range nd–474.82 mg/kg, 95th percentile 129.95 mg/kg | tyramine mean 140.9 mg/kg (up to 742.60) |
mg/kg = milligrams of histamine per kilogram of food. "Not detected" means below the laboratory's detection limit.
How freshness and processing change it
Fresh pork is low only while it is fresh. Histamine forms as bacteria act on stored meat, and it survives roasting, frying and reheating. Cook fresh or thawed pork soon, and freeze cooked pork in portions once it has cooled instead of keeping it in the fridge for days.
Fresh meat (group) had no detectable histamine in 199 samples. (measured)
Not measured. Storage time adds histamine, and reheating does not remove it. (estimate)
Cured meat (group) averaged 4.89 mg/kg; one sample reached 150 mg/kg. (measured)
Averaged 21.57 mg/kg in 424 samples; 5% were above 129.95 mg/kg. (measured)
Why we rate pork 0
Pork shows more clearly than any other meat that histamine depends on what is done to the meat, not on the animal. Fresh pork sits in the lowest group of the Spanish survey we rely on: across 199 samples of fresh meat, histamine was not detected once, and putrescine, cadaverine and tyramine averaged 1.35, 5.02 and 4.32 mg/kg. The survey reports fresh meat as one group, so pork is covered by the group figure rather than measured on its own.
The same pig can end up in three very different rows of that survey. Cured meat averaged 4.89 mg/kg of histamine across 23 samples, with one sample at 150 mg/kg and cadaverine averaging 38.03 mg/kg. Dry-fermented sausages, the group that includes salami and chorizo, averaged 21.57 mg/kg across 424 samples, and 5% were above 129.95 mg/kg. The published diets follow the same order: three of the ten in a 2021 review exclude fresh meat, two exclude cured meat, and all ten exclude dry-fermented sausages.
The biggest jump comes from fermentation. Salami is made by letting bacteria work on the meat for days or weeks, and some of those bacteria turn histidine into histamine. Fresh pork has no such step, and the 2021 review expects no histamine in fresh, cooked or cured meat as long as freshness and hygiene are guaranteed.
For fresh pork, the risk is time. Pulled pork and slow-roast shoulder are usually cooked in large amounts, held warm for hours at a barbecue or buffet, or kept in the fridge and eaten over several days. Bacteria can form histamine during that time, and reheating does not remove it, because amines are heat-stable. These forms were not measured, so we rate them 2, "moderate", as estimates.
We rate fresh pork 0, "low". Chops, loin, tenderloin, ribs and fresh belly, bought fresh or frozen and eaten on the day they are cooked, match what was measured. Ham and bacon have their own pages: cooked ham was measured in a different group from dry-cured ham, and bacon falls with the cured meats.
Questions about pork and histamine
Is pork belly low histamine?
Fresh pork belly is. It falls in the fresh meat group, which had no detectable histamine in 199 samples. Cured pork belly, sold as bacon or pancetta, falls with cured meat, which averaged 4.89 mg/kg with one sample at 150 mg/kg, and we rate it 2.
Is pulled pork high in histamine?
It was not measured. Pulled pork is often cooked in bulk and kept warm or chilled for a long time, and histamine that forms during that time survives reheating, so we rate it 2 as an estimate. Pork shoulder you cook and eat the same day is closer to fresh pork.
Evidence behind this page
- Fresh meat sold in Spain had no detectable histamine across 199 samples; putrescine, cadaverine and tyramine averaged 1.35, 5.02 and 4.32 mg/kg. 1
- Cured meat averaged 4.89 mg/kg of histamine across 23 samples, with a highest sample of 150 mg/kg and cadaverine averaging 38.03 mg/kg. 1
- Dry-fermented sausages averaged 21.57 mg/kg of histamine across 424 samples, and 5% were above 129.95 mg/kg. 1
- Three of ten published low-histamine diets exclude fresh meat, two exclude cured meat and all ten exclude dry-fermented sausages. 1
- Lactic acid bacteria in fermented meat products can produce histamine. 2
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)