Is cottage cheese high in histamine?
Cottage cheese is low in histamine: it is a fresh, unripened cheese, and 20 unripened cheeses tested in Spain had none detectable. Cottage cheese itself was not tested separately.
- Histamine
- Not detected
- Other amines
- Not measured
- Liberator
- Not on the lists we use
- DAO blocker
- No evidence
What each source says
| Source | Verdict | What it says, in our words |
|---|---|---|
| Lab measurements, Spain 1 | Measured | No detectable histamine in 20 unripened cheeses; cottage cheese was not reported separately. |
| 10 published low-histamine diets 2 | The review's chart has no bar for fresh cheese; its cheese bar, cured, semi-cured and grated cheese, is excluded by all 10. | |
| Clinical review, 2024 3 | Names aged cheese, not fresh cheese, among the foods a low-histamine diet avoids. | |
| SIGHI food list 4 | See source | See SIGHI's own list for its rating. |
Measured histamine
| Food tested | Samples | Histamine | Other amines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unripened cheese, Spanish market (group) 1 (Table 1) | 20 | not detected | not reported |
mg/kg = milligrams of histamine per kilogram of food. "Not detected" means below the laboratory's detection limit.
How freshness and processing change it
Cottage cheese is a moist, high-protein curd with a short shelf life, and the unripened cheeses were tested as bought. An open tub kept in the fridge was not measured. A 2012 review of dairy foods notes that amines can still build up in refrigerated cheese, so keep it cold, close the lid and use it within the date on the pack.
Unripened cheese group: none detected in 20 samples. (measured)
Not measured; bacteria keep working slowly in the cold. (estimate)
Why we rate cottage cheese 0
Cottage cheese is about as far from an aged cheese as cheese gets. The milk is soured, the curds are cut, warmed, washed and mixed with a little cream, and the tub is sold fresh. There is no ripening stage, and ripening is where cheese picks up most of its histamine.
The measurement is for the group. In a survey of cheese sold in Spain, reported in a 2020 review by a University of Barcelona team, 20 unripened cheeses had no detectable histamine at all. The review does not say which fresh cheeses were tested, and it does not report other amines for them, so cottage cheese is placed in this group by how it is made. Ripened cheese is very different: cheese made from pasteurised milk averaged 18.05 mg/kg, and cheese made from raw milk averaged 59.37 mg/kg, with one sample at 389.86 mg/kg.
The reason ripening matters is protein. A 2012 review of amines in dairy foods explains that as cheese ripens, its protein is broken down into free amino acids, including histidine, and bacteria turn those into amines. Cottage cheese is a protein-rich food, so it is the time it spends in storage, not the cheese itself, that you need to watch. The same review notes that amines can still build up in cheese kept in the fridge; nobody has measured what happens in an opened tub of cottage cheese. Keep it cold, close it after use and finish it within the date on the pack.
The published diets do not name fresh cheese. All ten diets in the team's 2021 review exclude cured, semi-cured and grated cheese, and their chart has no bar for fresh cheese.
We rate cottage cheese 0, "low". It is a useful high-protein swap for feta in salads and for cheddar in a cold sandwich or on a baked potato, where the mild, milky taste does the job without the ripening.
Questions about cottage cheese and histamine
Is cottage cheese low histamine?
Cottage cheese is an unripened cheese, and 20 unripened cheeses tested in Spain had no detectable histamine, so we rate it 0. It was not tested on its own, and an opened tub kept for a long time was not measured.
Is cottage cheese fermented?
The milk is soured with bacteria to make the curd, but the cheese is not ripened, and ripening is the stage in which aged cheese builds up histamine. Plain yogurt, also soured with bacteria, had no histamine in five samples.
Evidence behind this page
- Twenty unripened cheeses sold in Spain had no detectable histamine. 1
- Cheese made from pasteurised milk averaged 18.05 mg/kg of histamine and cheese made from raw milk 59.37 mg/kg, with a highest sample of 389.86 mg/kg. 1
- Protein breakdown releases the free amino acids that bacteria turn into amines, which is why ripened cheese accumulates them. 5
- Amines can still rise in cheese kept in the fridge; low temperatures slow the increase. 5
- All ten published low-histamine diets in the 2021 review exclude cured, semi-cured and grated cheese; fresh cheese is not on the review's chart. 2
- Five plain yogurts sold in Spain, also soured with bacteria, had no detectable histamine. 2
Sources
- Comas-Basté O, Sánchez-Pérez S, Veciana-Nogués MT, Latorre-Moratalla M, Vidal-Carou MDC. Histamine Intolerance: The Current State of the Art. Biomolecules 10(8):1181, 2020. doi:10.3390/biom10081181 (Comas-Basté O et al. 2020)
- Sánchez-Pérez S, Comas-Basté O, Veciana-Nogués MT, Latorre-Moratalla ML, Vidal-Carou MC. Low-Histamine Diets: Is the Exclusion of Foods Justified by Their Histamine Content? Nutrients 13(5):1395, 2021. doi:10.3390/nu13051395 (Sánchez-Pérez S et al. 2021)
- Jochum C. Histamine Intolerance: Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Beyond. Nutrients 16(8):1219, 2024. doi:10.3390/nu16081219 (Jochum C 2024)
- Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance (SIGHI). Food compatibility list for histamine intolerance. histaminintoleranz.ch (accessed November 2026), 2026. Link (Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance (SIGHI) 2026)
- Linares DM, del Río B, Ladero V, Martínez N, Fernández M, Martín MC, Álvarez MA. Factors Influencing Biogenic Amines Accumulation in Dairy Products. Frontiers in Microbiology 3:180, 2012. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2012.00180 (Linares DM et al. 2012)