Histamine scanner
Scan or search a product and see which ingredients are commonly linked to histamine — aged, cured and fermented components in particular — with the label name behind each match.
What a histamine scanner looks for
Histamine builds up naturally during fermentation, ageing and curing, so it isn’t listed on a label as “histamine” — it’s implied by the ingredient itself. FoodBuddy’s dictionary flags ingredients associated with higher histamine levels: aged cheese, cured or fermented meats, fermented soy (soy sauce, miso, tempeh), sauerkraut and other fermented vegetables, wine and wine vinegar, and yeast extract. See the histamine section of our intolerances guide for the fuller list.
Who checks for histamine-linked ingredients
People who’ve noticed a pattern around aged or fermented foods and want a faster way to spot the relevant ingredients on a new product, often alongside guidance from a healthcare professional. FoodBuddy doesn’t measure histamine content — there’s no reliable way to do that from a label — and it doesn’t diagnose histamine intolerance. It flags ingredient names worth a second look, nothing more.
Set your profile once — switch on histamine as an interest area and choose a sensitivity level.
Check a product — scan the label, search the database, or look it up by barcode.
Read the breakdown — every matched ingredient shows the label term, the match type, and why it was flagged.
Why this is harder than it looks
Histamine-forming ingredients rarely announce themselves. “Yeast extract” and “hydrolysed vegetable protein” are two of the more common hiding places, and a sauce built on fermented soy or vinegar can carry the same relevance as an aged cheese without looking anything like one on the front of the pack. Checking the actual ingredient list, every time, catches what a familiar-looking package can’t tell you.
Match confidence, shown honestly
Each result is labelled by certainty: a direct match is a known histamine-associated name; a keyword match resembles one closely enough to flag but not confirm; an unverified result means the scanner couldn’t identify the term confidently. See our methodology for the full explanation — an honest “not sure” beats a false green light.
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Related: Histamine ingredients · FODMAP scanner · Ingredient checker