Advances in technologies to detect histamine in food: Principles, applications, and prospects

Histamine is a common biogenic amine (BA) that exists in foods, such as seafood, beverages, fermented products and pickled foods. Since histamine is a food allergen, high amounts of histamine can cause food poisoning, and histamine detection is extremely urgent in the field of food safety. With the development of emerging materials and technologies, many new histamine detection methods have been reported as strong candidates for assessing food safety. This review summarizes the latest research advancements in histamine detection methods. The methods used for histamine sample preparation and extraction are discussed. Additionally, the principles, advances and applications of different methods of histamine detection, including conventional methods, spectroscopic methods, electrochemical sensors, and biosensors, are discussed. Furthermore, future trends, challenges and prospects related to histamine detection methods are emphasized. With the development of new materials and technologies, significant breakthroughs in histamine detection methods in terms of sensitivity, speed and simplicity of operation have been achieved. Future research should focus on handling complex sample matrices, designing multifunctional nanocomposites, and integrating these nanocomposites with intelligent devices to establish routine histamine detection methods in the field of food safety.