Additives and histamine: 337 foods rated

Acetic acid as an additive is usually synthetic and carries no histamine at all. What it signals is the other kind: where acetic acid occurs naturally - vinegar, pickles, sourdough - bacteria have been at work, and histamine follows the bacteria. Judge the food, not the acid on the label.

• Comas-Baste et al., Biomolecules 2020
• EFSA re-evaluation of acetic acid and acetates, 2020

Allura red (E129) replaced amaranth in most red applications and is now the commonest synthetic red in confectionery and drinks. It is one of the Southampton six, so the children's attention warning applies. Its being the modern replacement does not change its standing here: same group, same mechanism. None of this is about histamine content: a colour carries none. Colours are on this page because the pseudoallergen-free elimination diet removes them as a class, and that diet is itself unproven in double-blind trials.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluations of food colours (2009-2016)
• Reg. (EC) 1333/2008 Annex V

Benzoic acid (E210) is a histamine liberator - it carries none itself but can prompt mast cells to release yours - and it is the core of the pseudoallergen-free diet used in chronic urticaria. The thing the E number hides: it also occurs naturally, in cranberries, prunes and cinnamon, so a benzoate-free diet is not the same as an additive-free one. The honest caveat applies here as to the whole group: open-label diets show reactions that double-blind challenge confirms far less often. The Swiss list rates it 2 of 3 and marks it L, its letter for liberators of mast cell mediators — a presumed reason rather than a measurement.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN/EDF/WAO urticaria guideline
• Maintz & Novak, Am J Clin Nutr 2007
• EFSA re-evaluation of benzoates, 2016
• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list (2024-08-29), for the L classification and the compatibility rating

Benzyl alcohol (E1519) is on this list for what it becomes rather than what it is: the body oxidises it to benzoic acid, so it ends up as the same compound as E210. It arrives mostly as a carrier for flavourings rather than as a preservative in its own right, in quantities smaller than the benzoates proper. Benzyl alcohol carries no histamine. It is on this page because it becomes benzoic acid, and the benzoates are on every pseudoallergen elimination list.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN/EDF/WAO urticaria guideline
• Maintz & Novak, Am J Clin Nutr 2007
• EFSA re-evaluation of benzoates, 2016

Brilliant black BN (E151) is a bis-azo dye - two azo groups rather than one - used for black and very dark shades in sauces, caviar substitutes and confectionery. It is an azo colour but not one of the Southampton six, so no children's warning applies. It holds no histamine of its own; the elimination protocols group it with the liberators, which is a classification rather than a measured release. The Swiss list rates it 3 of 3 and marks it L, its letter for liberators of mast cell mediators — a presumed reason rather than a measurement.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluations of food colours (2009-2016)
• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list (2024-08-29), for the L classification and the compatibility rating

Brown FK is not one dye but a mixture of six, and its EU authorisation covers exactly one food: smoked kippers. If you are not eating kippers you are almost certainly not eating this. Where it is used, it belongs to the colour class removed on a pseudoallergen-free diet. None of this is about histamine content: a colour carries none. Colours are on this page because the pseudoallergen-free elimination diet removes them as a class, and that diet is itself unproven in double-blind trials.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluations of food colours (2009-2016)

Brown HT (E155) is the brown of chocolate-flavoured cakes and biscuits that contain little or no cocoa - it is there to make the colour the cocoa is not providing. An azo dye, but not one of the six carrying the children's warning. None of this is about histamine content: a colour carries none. Colours are on this page because the pseudoallergen-free elimination diet removes them as a class, and that diet is itself unproven in double-blind trials.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluations of food colours (2009-2016)

BHA (E320) is the phenolic antioxidant used in fats, chewing gum and instant potato, and it appears in pseudoallergen-free diets as a possible liberator on weak, largely observational evidence. Worth knowing rather than avoiding on principle - and worth knowing that it is the most-studied of the three, which is why it carries the higher flag. The Swiss list rates it 2 of 3 and marks it L, its letter for liberators of mast cell mediators — a presumed reason rather than a measurement.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluations of BHA (2011) and BHT (2012)
• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list (2024-08-29), for the L classification and the compatibility rating

Calcium bisulfite is the calcium salt in its hydrogen form, and sulfites are not documented as inhibitors of DAO, the enzyme that clears histamine. Sulfites are here because their intolerance looks like histamine intolerance and travels in the same foods — not because a mechanism links them. For this axis it behaves exactly like the other nine, which is to say it shares their foods and not a mechanism with them.

• Comas-Baste et al., Biomolecules 10:1181 (2020)
• Maintz & Novak, Am J Clin Nutr 2007
• Reg. (EU) No 1169/2011 Annex II for the 10 mg/kg declaration
• EFSA (2016), re-evaluation of sulfur dioxide and the sulfites, EFSA Journal 14(4):4438

Calcium sorbate (E203) was withdrawn from the EU list in 2018 after the EFSA could not complete its re-evaluation on the data available - an absence of evidence rather than evidence of harm. Its former use was surface treatment of cheese. Same standing as the family on this axis. Sorbate carries no histamine. It is on this page because the Swiss compatibility list rates the preservatives poorly as a family, and what that list publishes is a perceived compatibility rather than a measured content.

• SIGHI (Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance) food list
• EFSA re-evaluation of sorbic acid and sorbates, 2015

Calcium sulfite is the calcium salt of the group, and sulfites are not documented as inhibitors of DAO, the enzyme that clears histamine. Sulfites are here because their intolerance looks like histamine intolerance and travels in the same foods — not because a mechanism links them. It raises the same question as every sulfite and no other: a sensitivity of its own, sharing the foods rather than the mechanism.

• Comas-Baste et al., Biomolecules 10:1181 (2020)
• Maintz & Novak, Am J Clin Nutr 2007
• Reg. (EU) No 1169/2011 Annex II for the 10 mg/kg declaration
• EFSA (2016), re-evaluation of sulfur dioxide and the sulfites, EFSA Journal 14(4):4438

Caustic sulfite caramel (E150b) is made with sulfite, and that is what puts it here: it can carry residual sulfite, which is a sensitivity of its own and one that overlaps this axis. This is one of only two caramel grades with a real mechanism on this axis - the plain and ammonia grades have none. It colours spirits and vinegars. The caramel itself carries no histamine - it is the residual sulfite that puts it on this page, a different intolerance that often travels with this one.

• EFSA re-evaluation of caramel colours, 2011
• Maintz & Novak, Am J Clin Nutr 2007

Dodecyl gallate (E312) is the longest chain of the three and the most fat-soluble, used in the fattiest applications where the others would separate out. Chain length decides which product it goes into and nothing about its standing here. None of them carries histamine. The antioxidants are on this page because the pseudoallergen elimination protocols remove them as a family, and the reactions reported are pseudoallergic rather than amine-mediated.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluations of BHA (2011) and BHT (2012)

Erythrosine (E127) is an iodine-based pink-red whose EU authorisation is narrow enough to name: cocktail and candied cherries, and little else. It is not an azo dye, so it sits outside the Southampton group and carries no children's warning - but it is still on the pseudoallergen elimination list. None of this is about histamine content: a colour carries none. Colours are on this page because the pseudoallergen-free elimination diet removes them as a class, and that diet is itself unproven in double-blind trials.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluations of food colours (2009-2016)

Green S (E142) is the green of tinned peas, mint sauce and mint confectionery, and it is another triarylmethane rather than an azo dye. It is not permitted in the United States, which is why a British mint sauce and an American one can look different. Elimination lists remove it with the rest of the synthetic colours. None of this is about histamine content: a colour carries none. Colours are on this page because the pseudoallergen-free elimination diet removes them as a class, and that diet is itself unproven in double-blind trials.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluations of food colours (2009-2016)

Litholrubine BK (E180) has one authorised use in the EU and it is an unusual one: the rind of hard cheese. You would only meet it by eating the rind, and the cheese under it is the larger question here, not the dye. None of this is about histamine content: a colour carries none. Colours are on this page because the pseudoallergen-free elimination diet removes them as a class, and that diet is itself unproven in double-blind trials.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluations of food colours (2009-2016)

Octyl gallate (E311) has a longer chain than propyl gallate, which makes it dissolve in fat instead of water - so it goes into the oils and the fatty spreads. Same family, same reasoning, and the same thin evidence base. None of them carries histamine. The antioxidants are on this page because the pseudoallergen elimination protocols remove them as a family, and the reactions reported are pseudoallergic rather than amine-mediated.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluations of BHA (2011) and BHT (2012)

Sunset yellow (E110) is the orange of soft drinks, sweets and packet desserts, and it holds no histamine itself - the elimination protocols class it as a liberator, a grouping rather than a demonstrated release. It is one of the six colours of the Southampton study, so a product containing it must carry the EU warning about children's activity and attention - which makes it findable on a label without knowing the E number. The Swiss list rates it 3 of 3 and marks it L, its letter for liberators of mast cell mediators — a presumed reason rather than a measurement.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluations of food colours (2009-2016)
• Reg. (EC) 1333/2008 Annex V
• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list (2024-08-29), for the L classification and the compatibility rating

Potassium benzoate (E212) is the same preservative with potassium in place of sodium, chosen where the sodium figure on the nutrition panel matters. Identical standing here: a liberator, part of the pseudoallergen group, with the same double-blind caveat. The Swiss list rates it 2 of 3 and marks it L, its letter for liberators of mast cell mediators — a presumed reason rather than a measurement.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN/EDF/WAO urticaria guideline
• Maintz & Novak, Am J Clin Nutr 2007
• EFSA re-evaluation of benzoates, 2016
• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list (2024-08-29), for the L classification and the compatibility rating

Potassium bisulfite is the potassium salt in its hydrogen form, and sulfites are not documented as inhibitors of DAO, the enzyme that clears histamine. Sulfites are here because their intolerance looks like histamine intolerance and travels in the same foods — not because a mechanism links them. It reaches the drinker as part of the wine's total sulfite figure rather than as its own line. A sensitivity of its own, like the family, and no mechanism on this axis.

• Comas-Baste et al., Biomolecules 10:1181 (2020)
• Maintz & Novak, Am J Clin Nutr 2007
• Reg. (EU) No 1169/2011 Annex II for the 10 mg/kg declaration
• EFSA (2016), re-evaluation of sulfur dioxide and the sulfites, EFSA Journal 14(4):4438

Potassium metabisulfite is the potassium salt in its dimeric form, common in winemaking, and sulfites are not documented as inhibitors of DAO, the enzyme that clears histamine. Sulfites are here because their intolerance looks like histamine intolerance and travels in the same foods — not because a mechanism links them. It is the reason a wine's sulfite level is decided long before bottling. In wine the sulfite question arrives beside two things that DO have a mechanism here: the alcohol, which the reviews do describe as a DAO inhibitor, and the histamine the fermentation itself produced.

• Comas-Baste et al., Biomolecules 10:1181 (2020)
• Maintz & Novak, Am J Clin Nutr 2007
• Reg. (EU) No 1169/2011 Annex II for the 10 mg/kg declaration
• EFSA (2016), re-evaluation of sulfur dioxide and the sulfites, EFSA Journal 14(4):4438

Potassium sorbate (E202) is the form you will actually meet - the soluble salt, in cheese, wine, dried fruit and baked goods, and by a wide margin the commonest preservative of the family. Same thin evidence as sorbic acid: included in the protocols by association. Sorbate carries no histamine. It is on this page because the Swiss compatibility list rates the preservatives poorly as a family, and what that list publishes is a perceived compatibility rather than a measured content.

• SIGHI (Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance) food list
• EFSA re-evaluation of sorbic acid and sorbates, 2015

Potassium sulfite is the potassium salt of the group, and sulfites are not documented as inhibitors of DAO, the enzyme that clears histamine. Sulfites are here because their intolerance looks like histamine intolerance and travels in the same foods — not because a mechanism links them. The swap changes the nutrition label and nothing about this axis: it raises the same separate sulfite question as the sodium form and no other.

• Comas-Baste et al., Biomolecules 10:1181 (2020)
• Maintz & Novak, Am J Clin Nutr 2007
• Reg. (EU) No 1169/2011 Annex II for the 10 mg/kg declaration
• EFSA (2016), re-evaluation of sulfur dioxide and the sulfites, EFSA Journal 14(4):4438

Sodium benzoate (E211) is the form on almost every label, and it only works in acid food - which is why you find it in soft drinks, dressings and pickles and never in bread. It is a liberator rather than a source. Same caveat as the family: reactions are far commoner in open diets than under double-blind challenge, so test rather than assume. The Swiss list rates it 2 of 3 and marks it L, its letter for liberators of mast cell mediators — a presumed reason rather than a measurement.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN/EDF/WAO urticaria guideline
• Maintz & Novak, Am J Clin Nutr 2007
• EFSA re-evaluation of benzoates, 2016
• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list (2024-08-29), for the L classification and the compatibility rating

Sodium bisulfite is the same sodium salt in its hydrogen form, and sulfites are not documented as inhibitors of DAO, the enzyme that clears histamine. Sulfites are here because their intolerance looks like histamine intolerance and travels in the same foods — not because a mechanism links them. Nothing separates it from the others in how it acts here, which is to say it acts on nothing here: the sensitivity is real and the mechanism is not shared.

• Comas-Baste et al., Biomolecules 10:1181 (2020)
• Maintz & Novak, Am J Clin Nutr 2007
• Reg. (EU) No 1169/2011 Annex II for the 10 mg/kg declaration
• EFSA (2016), re-evaluation of sulfur dioxide and the sulfites, EFSA Journal 14(4):4438

Sodium metabisulfite is the sodium salt in its dimeric form, the one that turns up most often on a wine or dried-fruit label, and sulfites are not documented as inhibitors of DAO, the enzyme that clears histamine. Sulfites are here because their intolerance looks like histamine intolerance and travels in the same foods — not because a mechanism links them. If a label says sulphites without an E number, this is the most likely one. It behaves like the rest of the family: no histamine of its own, and a sensitivity that happens to travel in the foods this axis already covers.

• Comas-Baste et al., Biomolecules 10:1181 (2020)
• Maintz & Novak, Am J Clin Nutr 2007
• Reg. (EU) No 1169/2011 Annex II for the 10 mg/kg declaration
• EFSA (2016), re-evaluation of sulfur dioxide and the sulfites, EFSA Journal 14(4):4438

Sodium sorbate (E201) is no longer authorised in the EU - it was removed because it is unstable in storage, not for any safety finding. If you see it, the label is from outside Europe or out of date. Where it is used, it behaves like the rest of the family here. Sorbate carries no histamine. It is on this page because the Swiss compatibility list rates the preservatives poorly as a family, and what that list publishes is a perceived compatibility rather than a measured content.

• SIGHI (Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance) food list
• EFSA re-evaluation of sorbic acid and sorbates, 2015

Sodium sulfite is the plain sodium salt of the group, and sulfites are not documented as inhibitors of DAO, the enzyme that clears histamine. Sulfites are here because their intolerance looks like histamine intolerance and travels in the same foods — not because a mechanism links them. It supplies no histamine, and the family shares no mechanism here - only the foods and the elimination protocol.

• Comas-Baste et al., Biomolecules 10:1181 (2020)
• Maintz & Novak, Am J Clin Nutr 2007
• Reg. (EU) No 1169/2011 Annex II for the 10 mg/kg declaration
• EFSA (2016), re-evaluation of sulfur dioxide and the sulfites, EFSA Journal 14(4):4438

Sorbic acid (E200) is listed as a liberator in pseudoallergen-free protocols, but the evidence is thinner than for sulfites or benzoates - it is often included by association with other preservatives rather than on its own data. Treat it as a possible background contributor, not a proven trigger. It is the free acid, and it only works in acid food. The Swiss list rates it 2 of 3 and marks it L, its letter for liberators of mast cell mediators — a presumed reason rather than a measurement.

• SIGHI (Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance) food list
• EFSA re-evaluation of sorbic acid and sorbates, 2015
• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list (2024-08-29), for the L classification and the compatibility rating

Sulfites are on this axis for a reason worth stating precisely, because it is not the one usually given: they are not documented as inhibitors of DAO, the enzyme that clears histamine. Sulfite intolerance is its own condition, and it presents so much like histamine intolerance - and rides in the same foods, wine and dried fruit above all - that the two are eliminated together and routinely confused. The label helps here as almost nowhere else: EU law requires a sulphite declaration above 10 mg/kg. One number is worth carrying over from the additive side: when EFSA re-evaluated the sulfites in 2016 it kept the group ADI at 0.7 mg SO₂ equivalent per kilo of body weight, made it TEMPORARY for want of data, and estimated exposure above that figure for every population group.

• Comas-Baste et al., Biomolecules 10:1181 (2020)
• Maintz & Novak, Am J Clin Nutr 2007
• Reg. (EU) No 1169/2011 Annex II for the 10 mg/kg declaration
• EFSA (2016), re-evaluation of sulfur dioxide and the sulfites, EFSA Journal 14(4):4438

Sulfite-ammonia caramel (E150d) is the colour of cola, and it is the other sulfite-made grade - so the same residual-sulfite mechanism applies. It is by far the most produced caramel colour in the world, which makes it the one you are most likely to meet. The caramel itself carries no histamine - it is the residual sulfite that puts it on this page, a different intolerance that often travels with this one.

• EFSA re-evaluation of caramel colours, 2011
• Maintz & Novak, Am J Clin Nutr 2007

Sulfur dioxide is the one sulfite additive that is a gas rather than a salt, and sulfites are not documented as inhibitors of DAO, the enzyme that clears histamine. Sulfites are here because their intolerance looks like histamine intolerance and travels in the same foods — not because a mechanism links them. Like every sulfite it carries no histamine of its own; what it brings is the separate sensitivity. Dried fruit that has gone brown is fruit that was not treated. One number is worth carrying over from the additive side: when EFSA re-evaluated the sulfites in 2016 it kept the group ADI at 0.7 mg SO₂ equivalent per kilo of body weight, made it TEMPORARY for want of data, and estimated exposure above that figure for every population group.

• Comas-Baste et al., Biomolecules 10:1181 (2020)
• Maintz & Novak, Am J Clin Nutr 2007
• Reg. (EU) No 1169/2011 Annex II for the 10 mg/kg declaration
• EFSA (2016), re-evaluation of sulfur dioxide and the sulfites, EFSA Journal 14(4):4438

Tartrazine (E102) is the most tested colour on this list, and the testing is the reason to be careful with it in both directions: open observation suggests many reactions, double-blind challenge confirms far fewer. It contains no histamine, and the liberator classification it carries comes from the elimination protocols rather than from a demonstrated release. It is one of the five colours here that must carry the EU warning about activity and attention in children. The Swiss list rates it 3 of 3 and marks it L, its letter for liberators of mast cell mediators — a presumed reason rather than a measurement.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluations of food colours (2009-2016)
• Reg. (EC) 1333/2008 Annex V
• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list (2024-08-29), for the L classification and the compatibility rating

Yeast extract is yeast broken open and concentrated, and yeast products have been known to carry histamine and tyramine since the 1960s - it is the classic example. It hides in stocks, crisps and savoury sauces under names that do not say yeast. Gardner's review narrowed the MAOI diet to what the evidence supports, and yeast extract is one of the foods it KEPT restricted: it names Marmite concentrated yeast extract by brand, alongside aged cheese, cured meats, broad bean pods, sauerkraut, soy sauce and tap beer. Staying on that short list says more than appearing on the long one.

• Gardner D.M. et al., J Clin Psychiatry 57 (1996) 99-104, the review that narrowed the MAOI diet

Amaranth (E123) is the dye of that name, not the grain - two entirely different things sharing a word. It has been banned in the United States since 1976 and survives in the EU for a very short list of uses, aperitif wines and fish roe among them, so most people never meet it. Where it does appear, it is grouped with the liberator colours. The Swiss list rates it 2 of 3 and marks it L, its letter for liberators of mast cell mediators — a presumed reason rather than a measurement.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluations of food colours (2009-2016)
• U.S. FDA colour additive status list, for the 1976 delisting of FD&C Red No. 2
• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list (2024-08-29), for the L classification and the compatibility rating

Ammonia caramel (E150c) is made with ammonia and no sulfite, which is exactly why it sits below the sulfite grades here: no residual sulfite means the sulfite question does not arise. It is the caramel of beer, soy sauce and gravy browning - and both beer and soy sauce carry plenty of histamine of their own.

• EFSA re-evaluation of caramel colours, 2011
• Maintz & Novak, Am J Clin Nutr 2007

Artificial flavoring is as opaque a declaration as any other flavouring, and that is the whole of the answer here: the words tell you the compound was synthesised rather than extracted, and nothing at all about which substance is in the jar. SIGHI's entry covers it without an adjective — 'flavourings, flavorings', rated 1 of 3, with no mechanism letter and the remark 'This can be anything. Mostly not well tolerated.' The level reflects that opacity and not a known mechanism, and SIGHI's histamine column rates a perceived compatibility rather than a histamine content.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list
• Reg. (EC) 1334/2008 on flavourings

Azorubine (E122, also sold as carmoisine) colours the reds and berry shades of sweets, jellies and packet cakes. Another of the Southampton six, so it carries the children's attention warning. The dye holds no histamine of its own, so whatever it does is not a question of content - but release is the elimination protocols' classification of it, not a demonstrated mechanism. The Swiss list rates it 2 of 3 and marks it L, its letter for liberators of mast cell mediators — a presumed reason rather than a measurement.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluations of food colours (2009-2016)
• Reg. (EC) 1333/2008 Annex V
• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list (2024-08-29), for the L classification and the compatibility rating

Brilliant blue FCF (E133) is the blue of iced drinks, sports drinks and novelty sweets. Very little of it is absorbed - most passes through unchanged - which is one reason the reported reactions are fewer than for the azo colours. It is on the elimination list as part of the colour class. None of this is about histamine content: a colour carries none. Colours are on this page because the pseudoallergen-free elimination diet removes them as a class, and that diet is itself unproven in double-blind trials.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluations of food colours (2009-2016)

BHT (E321) does the same job as BHA in the same products, and the two are often used together because they protect fats at different stages of rancidity. Its standing here is the same and the evidence is the same: thin, observational, kept in the protocols by association. There is also a regulatory number for this one, and it moved in the direction people rarely expect: re-evaluating BHT, EFSA raised its ADI to 0.25 mg per kilo of body weight a day from 0.05, on a rat NOAEL of 25 mg/kg, and found it not of concern for genotoxicity. Adults are unlikely to reach that ADI. CHILDREN at the 95th percentile of intake in Finland and the Netherlands do exceed it. That is a toxicological limit and not an intolerance threshold - the two are different objects - but it is the only hard figure this additive has here. None of them carries histamine. The antioxidants are on this page because the pseudoallergen elimination protocols remove them as a family, and the reactions reported are pseudoallergic rather than amine-mediated.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluations of BHA (2011) and BHT (2012)
• EFSA Panel on Food Additives (2012), re-evaluation of butylated hydroxytoluene BHT (E 321) as a food additive

Caffeine holds no histamine. It is flagged because it is widely said to slow DAO, and that claim is worth being honest about: it appears in every food list on this subject and in very little else - reliable studies supporting it are hard to locate. It is on the axis because the lists put it there, not because a mechanism has been shown.

• Maintz & Novak, Am J Clin Nutr 2007
• Comas-Baste et al., Biomolecules 10:1181 (2020)

Calcium diglutamate (E623) carries two glutamate molecules per calcium, and it is used where neither sodium nor potassium is wanted. It is rare on European labels. Standing unchanged: no established mechanism, kept in the protocols by convention. EFSA set the first ADI for these additives at 30 mg per kilo of body weight a day, then found exposure above it — and above DOSES ASSOCIATED WITH ADVERSE EFFECTS IN HUMANS — for some population groups. That answers a different question from the blinded challenge: habitual intake, not a meal. Glutamate is not histamine, and the body does not make histamine from it - histamine comes from histidine. It is on this page because the elimination protocols remove the flavour enhancers alongside the colours and the preservatives.

• Geha et al., J Nutr 2000 (multicentre DBPC MSG trial)
• EFSA re-evaluation of glutamates, 2017
• EFSA Panel on Food Additives (2017), re-evaluation of glutamic acid (E 620) and the glutamates (E 621-E 625) as food additives

Calcium propionate (E282) is the form used in bread, and by volume it is one of the most widely used preservatives in the food supply - almost every industrial loaf carries it. Its presence on this list rests on association rather than on a mechanism. Propionate carries no histamine. The Swiss compatibility list marks the bread preservatives down as a family, and what it publishes is a perceived compatibility, not a content.

• SIGHI food list
• EFSA re-evaluation of propionic acid and propionates, 2014

Plain caramel (E150a) is sugar and heat, nothing else - no ammonia, no sulfite - and it therefore has no established histamine route at all. When a label says simply 'caramel colour' it does not tell you which of the four grades it is, and that is the whole difficulty: two of them carry sulfite and two do not.

• EFSA re-evaluation of caramel colours, 2011
• Maintz & Novak, Am J Clin Nutr 2007

Carmine (E120) is the odd one out, and the difference matters. It is a natural red extracted from cochineal insects, and it carries a mechanism nothing else here carries: a documented IgE ALLERGY, with confirmed cases including anaphylaxis, which does not depend on dose the way a liberator does. The Swiss list still marks it L at 2 of 3, so it sits in both groups rather than outside the liberators.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluations of food colours (2009-2016)
• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list (2024-08-29), for the L classification and the compatibility rating

Annatto (E160b) is extracted from achiote seed and colours cheddar, butter, custard powder and smoked fish. Natural origin buys it nothing here: it is one of the more frequently reported colours in the older pseudoallergen literature, and it is removed on the same elimination diets as the synthetic ones. None of this is about histamine content: a colour carries none. Colours are on this page because the pseudoallergen-free elimination diet removes them as a class, and that diet is itself unproven in double-blind trials.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluations of food colours (2009-2016)

Ethylparaben (E214) sits between the methyl and propyl forms, and it is the other paraben family still permitted in EU food. Longer chain means better fat solubility and a slightly different range of uses; the standing on this axis does not change with chain length. A paraben carries no histamine. It is on this page because the pseudoallergen-free elimination diet removes the preservative esters as a family - a protocol to trial, not a measured amine load, and one that is unproven in double-blind trials.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN/EDF/WAO urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluation of parabens
• Reg. (EC) No 1333/2008 for the authorised list

Flavor on a label is a catch-all: EU law lets the word stand in for hundreds of substances without naming them, so nothing can be said about its histamine load. SIGHI rates 'flavourings, flavorings' 1 of 3 and sets no mechanism letter against it, then adds the remark that decides this level — 'This can be anything. Mostly not well tolerated.' A mild rating beside a reservation that broad is what an opaque declaration earns, and the level here reflects that opacity rather than a known mechanism. If you react to a product and flavouring is all the label offers, the manufacturer is the only way to find out.

• Reg. (EC) 1334/2008 on flavourings
• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list

Glutamic acid (E620) is the free acid, and it is the form that occurs naturally - in tomato, parmesan, mushroom, soy sauce. That is the useful fact: you cannot avoid glutamate by avoiding the additive, because the foods richest in it are foods, and several of them are on this axis for reasons that have nothing to do with the glutamate. The additive itself is where the double-blind evidence lands, and it lands softly: Geha challenged 130 self-declared reactors with 5 g of MSG without food, and while more reacted to MSG than to placebo, only half of them did so again on retest and the effects were neither persistent nor serious. SIGHI rates the whole family E620-625 alike, at 2 of 3. EFSA set the first ADI for these additives at 30 mg per kilo of body weight a day, then found exposure above it — and above DOSES ASSOCIATED WITH ADVERSE EFFECTS IN HUMANS — for some population groups. That answers a different question from the blinded challenge: habitual intake, not a meal. Glutamate is not histamine, and the body does not make histamine from it - histamine comes from histidine. It is on this page because the elimination protocols remove the flavour enhancers alongside the colours and the preservatives.

• Geha et al., J Nutr 2000 (multicentre DBPC MSG trial)
• EFSA re-evaluation of glutamates, 2017
• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters
• EFSA Panel on Food Additives (2017), re-evaluation of glutamic acid (E 620) and the glutamates (E 621-E 625) as food additives

Lactic acid as an additive is produced by fermenting sugar and then purified, so the additive itself carries nothing. Where it appears naturally - yoghurt, sauerkraut, sourdough, cured sausage - it is the fingerprint of a live culture, and it is the culture that made the amines. It sits below acetic acid because its foods are usually younger.

• Comas-Baste et al., Biomolecules 2020
• EFSA re-evaluation of acetic acid and acetates, 2020

Lactic ferments on an ingredient list are the starter cultures added to yoghurt, cheese, bread and cured sausage. The culture itself is a small quantity of bacteria; what matters is what it then does to the food over hours or months. Read the food, not the ingredient - a fresh yoghurt and an aged salami both contain this line. Histamine is one of the products of that breakdown, which is why a fresh yoghurt and an aged salami do not sit in the same place.

• Comas-Baste et al., Biomolecules 2020
• McCabe-Sellers et al., J Food Compos Anal 2006

Magnesium diglutamate (E625) completes the set of glutamate salts, and it is the rarest of them. Which cation is attached changes the solubility and the nutrition panel; it changes nothing about the glutamate, and glutamate is not a liberator. EFSA set the first ADI for these additives at 30 mg per kilo of body weight a day, then found exposure above it — and above DOSES ASSOCIATED WITH ADVERSE EFFECTS IN HUMANS — for some population groups. That answers a different question from the blinded challenge: habitual intake, not a meal.

• Geha et al., J Nutr 2000 (multicentre DBPC MSG trial)
• EFSA re-evaluation of glutamates, 2017
• EFSA Panel on Food Additives (2017), re-evaluation of glutamic acid (E 620) and the glutamates (E 621-E 625) as food additives

Methylparaben (E218) is an ester of para-hydroxybenzoic acid - close enough to the benzoates that elimination diets treat them together. It is one of the two paraben families still authorised in EU food, in a narrow set of uses. Liberator rather than source, with the same double-blind caveat. The Swiss list rates it 2 of 3 and marks it L, its letter for liberators of mast cell mediators — a presumed reason rather than a measurement.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN/EDF/WAO urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluation of parabens
• Reg. (EC) No 1333/2008 for the authorised list
• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list (2024-08-29), for the L classification and the compatibility rating

Monoammonium glutamate (E624) is the least used of the family and turns up mainly in industrial flavour bases rather than on a retail label. Same verdict as the rest: the double-blind evidence does not support an independent effect. EFSA set the first ADI for these additives at 30 mg per kilo of body weight a day, then found exposure above it — and above DOSES ASSOCIATED WITH ADVERSE EFFECTS IN HUMANS — for some population groups. That answers a different question from the blinded challenge: habitual intake, not a meal. Glutamate is not histamine, and the body does not make histamine from it - histamine comes from histidine. It is on this page because the elimination protocols remove the flavour enhancers alongside the colours and the preservatives.

• Geha et al., J Nutr 2000 (multicentre DBPC MSG trial)
• EFSA re-evaluation of glutamates, 2017
• EFSA Panel on Food Additives (2017), re-evaluation of glutamic acid (E 620) and the glutamates (E 621-E 625) as food additives

Monopotassium glutamate (E622) is MSG with potassium instead of sodium, used in reduced-sodium seasonings. Same molecule doing the same job, same absence of an established histamine mechanism - and the same reason it stays on the list, which is the company it keeps rather than what it does. EFSA set the first ADI for these additives at 30 mg per kilo of body weight a day, then found exposure above it — and above DOSES ASSOCIATED WITH ADVERSE EFFECTS IN HUMANS — for some population groups. That answers a different question from the blinded challenge: habitual intake, not a meal.

• Geha et al., J Nutr 2000 (multicentre DBPC MSG trial)
• EFSA re-evaluation of glutamates, 2017
• EFSA Panel on Food Additives (2017), re-evaluation of glutamic acid (E 620) and the glutamates (E 621-E 625) as food additives

MSG (E621) is the weakest entry on this whole axis, and it is worth being blunt: the 'Chinese restaurant syndrome' link has largely failed double-blind placebo-controlled testing, and glutamate is not a histamine liberator by any established mechanism. It stays flagged because histamine lists conventionally include it and because MSG travels with genuinely high-histamine company - soy sauce, aged cheese, yeast extract - which is the likelier explanation for a reaction. The Swiss list rates it 2 of 3 and marks it L, its letter for liberators of mast cell mediators — a presumed reason rather than a measurement. EFSA set the first ADI for these additives at 30 mg per kilo of body weight a day, then found exposure above it — and above DOSES ASSOCIATED WITH ADVERSE EFFECTS IN HUMANS — for some population groups. That answers a different question from the blinded challenge: habitual intake, not a meal.

• Geha et al., J Nutr 2000 (multicentre DBPC MSG trial)
• EFSA re-evaluation of glutamates, 2017
• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list (2024-08-29), for the L classification and the compatibility rating
• EFSA Panel on Food Additives (2017), re-evaluation of glutamic acid (E 620) and the glutamates (E 621-E 625) as food additives

Nutritional yeast is not a fermented food, which is the thing worth correcting: the yeast is GROWN on a sugar substrate and then killed by heat and dried, so there is no fermentation period during which bacteria break protein down. It carries amines all the same, because yeast is protein-rich and the drying concentrates it - but the mechanism is not the one the category implies.

• Comas-Baste et al., Biomolecules 2020
• McCabe-Sellers et al., J Food Compos Anal 2006

Patent blue V (E131) is a triarylmethane dye, not an azo dye, and it is used in small amounts for blue and green shades in confectionery. It is outside the Southampton group and carries no children's warning, but it stays on pseudoallergen elimination lists, where colours are removed as a class rather than one by one. None of this is about histamine content: a colour carries none. Colours are on this page because the pseudoallergen-free elimination diet removes them as a class, and that diet is itself unproven in double-blind trials.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluations of food colours (2009-2016)

Ponceau 4R (E124) is the red of tinned strawberries, packet trifles and cheap salami casings, and it is the fifth of the Southampton colours present in this catalogue - so it too carries the children's attention warning. It holds no histamine itself, and the liberator label it carries here is the elimination protocols' classification rather than a measured effect. The Swiss list rates it 2 of 3 and marks it L, its letter for liberators of mast cell mediators — a presumed reason rather than a measurement.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluations of food colours (2009-2016)
• Reg. (EC) 1333/2008 Annex V
• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list (2024-08-29), for the L classification and the compatibility rating

Potassium nitrate (E252) is saltpetre, the oldest curing salt there is - it predates the industrial nitrites by centuries and is still used in traditional dry cures. Same reasoning: the additive marks a long, slow process, and it is the process that produces the histamine.

• Comas-Baste et al., Biomolecules 2020
• EFSA re-evaluation of nitrites and nitrates, 2017

Potassium propionate (E283) is the least common of the three and appears where sodium is being kept down. Which cation is used changes the baking chemistry and nothing on this axis, where the whole family sits on limited evidence. Propionate carries no histamine. The Swiss compatibility list marks the bread preservatives down as a family, and what it publishes is a perceived compatibility, not a content.

• SIGHI food list
• EFSA re-evaluation of propionic acid and propionates, 2014

Propionic acid (E280) is the bread preservative - it is what stops sliced loaves going mouldy and it is what gives Swiss cheese its holes, since the bacteria that make Emmental produce it themselves. It is in pseudoallergen protocols on limited evidence, with no established histamine mechanism.

• SIGHI food list
• EFSA re-evaluation of propionic acid and propionates, 2014

Propyl gallate (E310) is the shortest-chain of the three gallates and the most water-tolerant, which is why it is the one used in dry mixes and cereal products rather than in pure fat. Its phenolic ring is what puts the family on pseudoallergen lists. None of them carries histamine. The antioxidants are on this page because the pseudoallergen elimination protocols remove them as a family, and the reactions reported are pseudoallergic rather than amine-mediated.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluations of BHA (2011) and BHT (2012)

Propylparaben (E216) is the one that answers differently, and the difference is legal rather than chemical: it was REMOVED from the EU food additive list in 2006 and cannot be in European food. It is still found in cosmetics and in food elsewhere in the world, which is why the name persists. Where it is used, it belongs with the paraben liberators. The Swiss list has no line for E216 itself, but its family entry — “parabens = PHB-ester, E214-219” — is marked L at 2 of 3, and this one falls inside that range.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN/EDF/WAO urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluation of parabens
• Reg. (EC) No 1333/2008 for the authorised list
• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list (2024-08-29), for the L classification and the compatibility rating

Quinoline yellow: it can trigger the release of histamine from mast cells in sensitive individuals

Sodium ethylparaben (E215) is the soluble salt of E214, and it exists for the same reason every paraben has a sodium version: to work in a water phase. Same family, same place on this axis. A paraben carries no histamine. It is on this page because the pseudoallergen-free elimination diet removes the preservative esters as a family - a protocol to trial, not a measured amine load, and one that is unproven in double-blind trials.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN/EDF/WAO urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluation of parabens
• Reg. (EC) No 1333/2008 for the authorised list

Sodium methylparaben (E219) is the water-soluble salt of E218, used where the ester itself will not dissolve. The salt changes the solubility, not the paraben backbone that puts it on an elimination list. A paraben carries no histamine. It is on this page because the pseudoallergen-free elimination diet removes the preservative esters as a family - a protocol to trial, not a measured amine load, and one that is unproven in double-blind trials.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN/EDF/WAO urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluation of parabens
• Reg. (EC) No 1333/2008 for the authorised list

Sodium nitrate (E251) is the slow form: it does nothing until bacteria in the meat reduce it to nitrite, which is why it is used for the long cures - dry-cured ham, aged salami - rather than for bacon. The long cure is exactly what builds histamine, so the presence of nitrate signals the higher-histamine method of the two.

• Comas-Baste et al., Biomolecules 2020
• EFSA re-evaluation of nitrites and nitrates, 2017

Sodium nitrite (E250) matters less for what it does than for where it is: it is the curing salt of ham, bacon and salami, and those foods build their histamine through the curing itself. The additive is a marker of a high-histamine process rather than an independent trigger - if it is on the label, the food it is in is the entry to read.

• Comas-Baste et al., Biomolecules 2020
• EFSA re-evaluation of nitrites and nitrates, 2017

Sodium propionate (E281) is the same preservative in the sodium form, used where calcium would interfere with the dough - it is the one for cakes and pastries rather than for bread. Same low-confidence standing here. Propionate carries no histamine. The Swiss compatibility list marks the bread preservatives down as a family, and what it publishes is a perceived compatibility, not a content.

• SIGHI food list
• EFSA re-evaluation of propionic acid and propionates, 2014

Sodium propylparaben (E217) shares the fate of E216: withdrawn from EU food use in 2006. If you are reading a European label, this one should not be on it - and if it is on a label from elsewhere, it behaves like the rest of the paraben family here. A paraben carries no histamine. It is on this page because the pseudoallergen-free elimination diet removes the preservative esters as a family - a protocol to trial, not a measured amine load, and one that is unproven in double-blind trials.

• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN/EDF/WAO urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluation of parabens
• Reg. (EC) No 1333/2008 for the authorised list

Tertiary-butylhydroquinone: TBHQ (E319) is the antioxidant of frying oils and fried snacks, where it holds up at temperatures the others do not. It is worth correcting one thing about it: TBHQ is authorised in the EU, with restricted uses and levels - the widespread claim that Europe bans it is wrong, and this is the rare additive where a reader can check the label and see the E number for themselves. Its place here rests on the same weak pseudoallergen evidence as the rest of the antioxidant group. None of them carries histamine. The antioxidants are on this page because the pseudoallergen elimination protocols remove them as a family, and the reactions reported are pseudoallergic rather than amine-mediated.

• Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008, Annex II, for the authorisation of E 319
• Zuberbier et al., EAACI/GA2LEN urticaria guideline
• EFSA re-evaluations of BHA (2011) and BHT (2012)

Agar-agar is the gelling extract of red seaweed, the vegetarian answer to gelatine. It is a chain of sugars, and sugars are not what bacteria decarboxylate into an amine.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Aluminium here is the metal itself, used as a surface pigment on confectionery.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Amylases break starch, not protein, so they produce no amino acids and open no route to histamine. They are grown by microbial fermentation and then purified out of the broth, which is where the origin question ends.

Annatto is the colour drawn from achiote seed, used at a few parts per million. Extraction leaves the plant's protein behind, and protein is what bacteria need to make histamine.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Ascorbic acid is vitamin C, added as an antioxidant to stop browning rather than as a nutrient. It is one defined molecule with no amino acids in it, and an amino acid is what bacteria turn into histamine.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Baker's yeast is rated 1 of 3 by SIGHI as 'yeast (fresh, dried, in all forms)', and no mechanism letter is set beside it. Those letters are how that list says WHY something is a problem — H for a high histamine content, H! for rapid formation, A for other biogenic amines, L for a liberator, B for a DAO blocker — and yeast EXTRACT two lines further down carries 2 and an L, so the blank here is a judgement and not an omission. A yeast cake is a living cell mass, not a food that has been standing while bacteria broke its protein down. What that column reports is perceived compatibility rather than a measured content, so it places this food without giving it a figure.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list

Calcium aluminium silicate is a mined clay mineral that keeps powders flowing.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Calcium ferrocyanide is the third of the salt anti-caking ferrocyanides, with calcium.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Calcium guanylate is a nucleotide flavour enhancer extracted from yeast or from fish - both among the most amine-rich raw materials there are. Purification separates the nucleotide from the amines, so the additive itself carries none; the origin is why it appears on elimination lists, and why it usually sits beside yeast extract on a label. Blackwell measured yeast products, not this additive.

• Blackwell B. et al., Journal of Food Science 34 (1969) 47-51, amines in yeast products

Calcium inosinate is a nucleotide flavour enhancer extracted from yeast or from fish - both among the most amine-rich raw materials there are. Purification separates the nucleotide from the amines, so the additive itself carries none; the origin is why it appears on elimination lists, and why it usually sits beside yeast extract on a label. Blackwell measured yeast products, not this additive.

• Blackwell B. et al., Journal of Food Science 34 (1969) 47-51, amines in yeast products

Calcium phosphates are mineral salts used to raise dough, firm texture and fortify.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Calcium stearoyl-2-lactylate is a dough conditioner built from a fatty acid and lactic acid. It is fatty-acid chemistry, not amino-acid chemistry, and histamine comes from the second.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Canthaxanthin is a carotenoid colour, made synthetically rather than extracted. It is one defined molecule with no amino acids in it, and an amino acid is what bacteria turn into histamine.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Carob bean gum is milled from the seed of the carob pod, and it is what keeps ice cream smooth. It is a chain of sugars, and sugars are not what bacteria decarboxylate into an amine.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Cholic acid is a purified bile acid, used as an emulsifier in a handful of products. It is fatty-acid chemistry, not amino-acid chemistry, and histamine comes from the second.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Citric acid is not squeezed from lemons. Almost all of it is made by fermenting sugar with the mould Aspergillus niger and purifying the acid out of the broth - which is why it appears on histamine elimination lists at all, as a fermentation product rather than a fruit extract. The purified acid carries no amines. Two things are worth knowing beyond that, at the weight the evidence gives them: the production strains are screened for mycotoxins because most of them can make some, and purification is what stands between that and the food; and a small series of case reports has described inflammatory reactions to the manufactured additive in people who tolerate citrus fruit. Four cases is a signal to be aware of, not a demonstrated effect.

Coagulating enzyme sets milk into curd, and it is used in tiny amounts before the cheese is made. What happens to the cheese afterwards - how long it ripens - is what decides the histamine, not the enzyme that started it.

Curcumin is the yellow pigment of turmeric, separated from the rhizome. Extraction leaves the plant's protein behind, and protein is what bacteria need to make histamine.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Diphosphates are two phosphate units joined, the fast-acting half of baking powder.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Dipotassium guanylate is a nucleotide flavour enhancer extracted from yeast or from fish - both among the most amine-rich raw materials there are. Purification separates the nucleotide from the amines, so the additive itself carries none; the origin is why it appears on elimination lists, and why it usually sits beside yeast extract on a label. Blackwell measured yeast products, not this additive.

• Blackwell B. et al., Journal of Food Science 34 (1969) 47-51, amines in yeast products

Disodium guanylate is a nucleotide flavour enhancer extracted from yeast or from fish - both among the most amine-rich raw materials there are. Purification separates the nucleotide from the amines, so the additive itself carries none; the origin is why it appears on elimination lists, and why it usually sits beside yeast extract on a label. Blackwell measured yeast products, not this additive.

• Blackwell B. et al., Journal of Food Science 34 (1969) 47-51, amines in yeast products

Disodium inosinate is a nucleotide flavour enhancer extracted from yeast or from fish - both among the most amine-rich raw materials there are. Purification separates the nucleotide from the amines, so the additive itself carries none; the origin is why it appears on elimination lists, and why it usually sits beside yeast extract on a label. Blackwell measured yeast products, not this additive.

• Blackwell B. et al., Journal of Food Science 34 (1969) 47-51, amines in yeast products

Disodium ribonucleotides are nucleotide flavour enhancers extracted from yeast or from fish - both among the most amine-rich raw materials there are. Purification separates the nucleotide from the amines, so the additive itself carries none; the origin is why it appears on elimination lists, and why it usually sits beside yeast extract on a label. Blackwell measured yeast products, not this additive.

• Blackwell B. et al., Journal of Food Science 34 (1969) 47-51, amines in yeast products

Ferrous gluconate is an iron salt used to fortify foods and to keep black olives black.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Ferrous lactate is the same iron paired with lactic acid, and the lactic acid is not milk.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Guanylic acid is a nucleotide flavour enhancer extracted from yeast or from fish - both among the most amine-rich raw materials there are. Purification separates the nucleotide from the amines, so the additive itself carries none; the origin is why it appears on elimination lists, and why it usually sits beside yeast extract on a label. Blackwell measured yeast products, not this additive.

• Blackwell B. et al., Journal of Food Science 34 (1969) 47-51, amines in yeast products

Guar gum is the galactomannan of the cluster bean's endosperm, a thickener at a fraction of a per cent. It is a chain of sugars, and sugars are not what bacteria decarboxylate into an amine.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Indigo carmine is a synthetic blue, the sulfonated form of indigo. It is one defined molecule with no amino acids in it, and an amino acid is what bacteria turn into histamine.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Inosinic acid is a nucleotide flavour enhancer extracted from yeast or from fish - both among the most amine-rich raw materials there are. Purification separates the nucleotide from the amines, so the additive itself carries none; the origin is why it appears on elimination lists, and why it usually sits beside yeast extract on a label. Blackwell measured yeast products, not this additive.

• Blackwell B. et al., Journal of Food Science 34 (1969) 47-51, amines in yeast products

Karaya gum is the dried sap of the sterculia tree, used as a thickener and a denture adhesive. It is a chain of sugars, and sugars are not what bacteria decarboxylate into an amine.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Koji is the exception in this whole group: it is not a purified compound but a living mould culture, and it is the starter that makes miso, soy sauce and sake. The koji itself is low; what it is used to make is not. Low in histamine, that is: it is the months of fermentation that follow, not the starter itself, that build the amines in miso and soy sauce.

Lactase is a microbial fermentation product, like every food enzyme, which is why it is low rather than none. Lactase itself is not a histamine source; it appears in enzyme blends formulated for histamine-intolerant people.

Lecithin is the phospholipid separated from soy or sunflower oil during refining, and it carries traces of the seed's protein. What is missing here is not protein but the bacteria and the weeks: histamine is made, not extracted.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Malic acid is made synthetically for food use, not fermented, despite being named for the apple it was first found in. There is no biological step in its production at all. Nothing in that manufacture builds histamine; the level is low rather than none because the food acids are rated as a family and not one by one.

These mixed esters are DATEM's chemistry with acetic acid in the blend, used where a softer crumb is wanted. It is fatty-acid chemistry, not amino-acid chemistry, and histamine comes from the second.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Mono- and diglycerides are fats with one or two of their three fatty acids removed, the commonest emulsifier there is. It is fatty-acid chemistry, not amino-acid chemistry, and histamine comes from the second.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

DATEM is those same mono- and diglycerides esterified with tartaric acid, to strengthen bread dough. It is fatty-acid chemistry, not amino-acid chemistry, and histamine comes from the second.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Nisin is an antibacterial peptide produced by Lactococcus fermentation, and its job is to stop bacteria growing - which on this axis is the opposite of a problem. It suppresses the organisms that would otherwise make amines.

Paprika extract is the colour pressed from the same dried pepper as the spice, used by the drop rather than the spoon. Extraction leaves the plant's protein behind, and protein is what bacteria need to make histamine.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Polyphosphates are longer chains of the same mineral, in cured meat and processed cheese.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Potassium aluminium silicate is mica, ground fine to give a pearl finish.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Potassium ferrocyanide is the same salt anti-caking agent with potassium in place of sodium.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Potassium nitrite is a curing salt for meat, and the meat it cures is where this axis has its question.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Potassium phosphates are the same mineral salts with potassium, common in processed cheese and drinks.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Propylene glycol alginate is that seaweed alginate modified to survive acid drinks and hold beer foam. It is a chain of sugars, and sugars are not what bacteria decarboxylate into an amine.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Propylene glycol is a synthetic solvent that carries flavours and colours into a product. It is one defined molecule with no amino acids in it, and an amino acid is what bacteria turn into histamine.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Proteases are the one additive on this axis with a mechanism pointing the wrong way. They break protein into free amino acids - including histidine, which is what bacteria turn into histamine. The enzyme makes none itself, but it supplies the substrate, which matters in a product that then sits warm.

Shellac is the resin a lac insect secretes on tree bark, refined into a glaze for sweets and pills. What is missing here is not protein but the bacteria and the weeks: histamine is made, not extracted.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Sodium adipate is the sodium salt of adipic acid, a tart acidity regulator in powdered mixes. It is one defined molecule with no amino acids in it, and an amino acid is what bacteria turn into histamine.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Sodium alginate is the gelling salt drawn from brown seaweed, the one that makes spherified beads. It is a chain of sugars, and sugars are not what bacteria decarboxylate into an amine.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Sodium aluminium phosphate is the raising agent in self-raising flour and cake mixes.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Sodium aluminium silicate is a synthetic anti-caking agent for salt and powdered mixes.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Sodium ferrocyanide is the anti-caking agent in table salt, an iron-cyanide complex that does not release its cyanide.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Sodium phosphates are the sodium form, the acidity regulators of processed cheese and cured meat.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Sorbitan monolaurate is sorbitol esterified to lauric acid, the shortest chain of the family. It is fatty-acid chemistry, not amino-acid chemistry, and histamine comes from the second.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Sorbitan monooleate is the unsaturated one, sorbitol esterified to oleic acid. It is fatty-acid chemistry, not amino-acid chemistry, and histamine comes from the second.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Sorbitan monopalmitate is sorbitol esterified to palmitic acid. It is fatty-acid chemistry, not amino-acid chemistry, and histamine comes from the second.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Sorbitan monostearate is sorbitol esterified to stearic acid, the one used in icings and whipped toppings. It is fatty-acid chemistry, not amino-acid chemistry, and histamine comes from the second.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Sorbitan tristearate is the same sorbitol carrying three stearic chains instead of one. It is fatty-acid chemistry, not amino-acid chemistry, and histamine comes from the second.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Soy protein isolate is washed and dried from the bean with no fermentation step, and the washing removes the free amino acids amines would have been built from.

Stannous chloride is a tin salt that keeps canned white asparagus and lychees pale.

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Thermally oxidized soya bean oil is soy oil heated with glycerides until it works as an emulsifier. It is fatty-acid chemistry, not amino-acid chemistry, and histamine comes from the second.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters

Triphosphates are three units joined, used to hold water in meat and fish.

• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list, for the entry, its rating and its letters