ABSTRACT
Seafood is considered an important part of our diet, representing 15% of the total protein ingested all over the world and exhibiting benefi cial effects on the consumer health, due to its excellent nutritional properties. Nevertheless, seafood also harbors health risks for the consumers, being the most frequent source of food poisoning that causes diseases with varying degrees of severity, ranging from mild indisposition to chronic or life threatening illness (Gram and Huss 1996; Huss et al. 2000; Iwamoto et al. 2010). The most prevalent intoxication caused by the consumption of seafood is the scombroid fi sh poisoning that is induced by high levels of histamine, produced by mesophilic bacteria in inappropriately chilled fi sh
(Lehane and Olley 2000; Flick et al. 2001; Kim et al. 2003). Besides seafoodborne diseases, the industry of fi shing and aquaculture is confronted with high economic losses caused by the rapid alteration of products of marine origin (Huss 1995; Rodriguez et al. 2003). Seafood spoilage is caused by microorganisms, enzymes and chemical action, bacteria being the major cause of spoilage of most aquatic food products, due to its ability to form volatile substances that cause off-odors (Gram 1992; Gram and Dalgaard 2002; Fonnesbech Vogel et al. 2005).
