Histamine poisoning occurs when people eat spoiled fish in which bacteria have converted one amino acid to histamine.
Ground meat is more susceptible to contamination by bacteria and temperature fluctuations.
In most cases the tuna was frozen and thawed more than once - this should never be done because of large increases in bacteria. The problem is that fish can look and smell normal even when it isn't. Within minutes of eating contaminated fish, many unpleasant symptoms occur including tingling and burning around the mouth, rash and itchiness on the upper body, and intestinal upsets. Now when nutrition news gets confusing, there IS a place to go to get the real story. Our FREE daily email newsletter, Nutrition News Focus, helps you make sense of it all.