Smoked salmon

Smoked salmon is notable for histamine, tyramine and nickel. Clear on FODMAPs, lactose, gluten, fructose, oligosaccharides, sorbitol, sucrose, salicylate and oxalates.

Yes — Smoked salmon is high in histamine. Smoked salmon is COLD-smoked, at under 30 degrees - the smoke preserves and flavours but never cooks, so the fish spends hours, sometimes a day or two, at a temperature bacteria are perfectly happy with; there is no standard duration and each smokehouse has its own. That is the whole difference from a fresh fillet, and it is why the salmon entry and this one are two different answers. The legal histamine limits of 100 and 200 mg/kg are written for the histidine-rich scombroids, not for this fish - which does not exempt it from the clock.

Smoked salmon contains moderate levels of tyramine. Smoked salmon is COLD-smoked at under 30 degrees, which preserves and flavours but never cooks - so the fish spends hours, sometimes a day or two, at a temperature bacteria are content with. There is no standard duration; each house has its own. That is the whole difference from a fresh fillet, which is not on this axis at all. Visciano is explicit about which treatments raise amines rather than lower them: salting, ripening, fermentation and marination all do, and cold-smoked salmon is brined before it is smoked. The European limit for fishery products from high-histidine species is 100 to 200 mg/kg of histamine, and 200 to 400 for products matured in brine — the higher ceiling belongs to the more processed product, not the safer one.

Smoked salmon contains only low levels of nickel. Finfish sit far below shellfish on this axis - salmon swims rather than filters, so it does not accumulate what the water carries. Smoking adds flavour and salt, not metal. The second French Total Diet Study ranks the food groups for nickel rather than valuing them, and tofu heads that ranking. Amounts vary by brand and recipe, so always check the label of the exact product.