Biogenic amines content, histamine-forming bacteria and adulteration of bonito in tuna candy products

Thirty-four tuna candy products sold in retail markets and supermarkets in Taiwan were purchased and tested to determine the biogenic amine, histamine-forming bacteria, and adulteration of bonito meat. The levels of pH value, water activity (Aw), water content, total volatile basic nitrogen (TVBN), aerobic plate count (APC) and total coliform (TC) in all samples ranged from 5.3 to 6.1, 0.47 to 0.65, 7.37% to 17.32%, 12.1 to 54.6 mg/100 g, <1 to 6.2 log CFU/g and <3 to 1700 MPN/g, respectively. None of these sample contained Escherichia coli. The average content of various biogenic amines in all tested samples was less than 1.0 mg/100 g. Four histamine-producing bacterial strains isolated from tested samples produced 1.02–1.74 ppm of histamine in trypticase soy broth supplemented with 1.0% l-histidine (TSBH) after incubation at 35 °C for 24 h. Assay of multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) revealed that adulteration rate of bonito meat was 26.5% (9/34) in tuna candy samples. Tuna species in tuna candy samples was identified as Thunnus albacares for 29 samples (85.3%), Thunnus alalunga for four samples (11.8%) and Thunnus obesus for one sample (2.9%) by polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR–RFLP).