Is salami high in histamine?
Salami is high in histamine: dry-fermented sausages averaged 21.57 mg/kg in lab tests with some above 400, and all 10 published low-histamine diets reviewed in 2021 exclude them.
- Histamine
- Present
- 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 | Average 21.57 mg/kg in 424 samples; highest 474.82 mg/kg. |
| 10 published low-histamine diets 1 | All 10 exclude dry-fermented sausages. | |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dry-fermented sausages sold in Spain 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
Here fermentation, not spoilage, is the main source: bacteria in the curing process form histamine and tyramine. Levels vary widely even within one production batch, so a brand that was fine once is no guarantee.
Dry-fermented sausages averaged 21.57 mg/kg; 5% were above 129.95 mg/kg. (measured)
Why we rate salami 3
Salami and other dry-fermented sausages such as chorizo and pepperoni are among only four foods that all ten published low-histamine diets in a 2021 review agree on excluding. The other three are aged cheese, wine and beer. The measurements explain why. Across 424 samples of dry-fermented sausages sold in Spain, histamine averaged 21.57 mg/kg, and 5% of samples were above 129.95 mg/kg. The highest reached 474.82 mg/kg.
The source is the fermentation itself. Dry sausages are made by letting bacteria work on raw meat for days or weeks, and some of the lactic acid bacteria involved turn histidine into histamine and tyrosine into tyramine. Tyramine in these sausages averaged 140.9 mg/kg, far more than histamine. Because the process is microbial, the result varies a lot: the 2021 review notes large differences even between samples from the same production batch. A salami that did not bother you once tells you little about the next one.
Cured meats that are not fermented in the same way look different. Cured meat in the same Spanish survey averaged 4.89 mg/kg of histamine across 23 samples, although one sample reached 150 mg/kg, and only two of the ten diets exclude it. We will rate cured and cooked hams on their own pages once they are written.
We rate salami 3, "high". It is the meat most worth leaving out on a low-histamine diet. For a sandwich or a pizza topping, freshly cooked chicken, sliced and eaten the same day, is the usual swap: fresh meat had no detectable histamine across 199 samples. Packaged deli slices sit in between and were not measured, so the longer a pack has been open, the more cautious you should be.
Questions about salami and histamine
Is pepperoni high in histamine?
Yes. Pepperoni is a dry-fermented sausage, the group that averaged 21.57 mg/kg of histamine across 424 samples and that all ten published low-histamine diets in a 2021 review exclude.
Is chorizo high in histamine?
Cured, dry-fermented chorizo is. Fresh (uncured) chorizo sold for cooking is a different product that was not measured in the studies we use.
Evidence behind this page
- Dry-fermented sausages sold in Spain averaged 21.57 mg/kg of histamine across 424 samples; 5% exceeded 129.95 mg/kg. 1
- All ten published low-histamine diets in the 2021 review exclude dry-fermented sausages. 1
- Lactic acid bacteria in fermented meat products can produce histamine. 2
- Histamine in fermented foods varies widely, even between samples from the same production batch. 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)