Is feta high in histamine?
Feta is high in histamine: it is a ripened cheese, and ripened cheese made from pasteurised milk averaged 18.05 mg/kg in lab tests, with samples up to 162.03 mg/kg. Feta was not tested separately in the Spanish surveys.
- Histamine
- Present
- 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 | Pasteurised-milk cheese averaged 18.05 mg/kg in 20 samples, up to 162.03; raw-milk cheese 59.37 mg/kg. Feta was not reported separately. |
| 10 published low-histamine diets 2 | All 10 exclude cured, semi-cured and grated cheese. Brined cheese such as feta is not named separately. | |
| Clinical review, 2024 3 | Lists aged 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheese made from pasteurised milk, Spanish market (group; median 4.59 mg/kg) 1 (Table 1) | 20 | mean 18.05 mg/kg, range nd–162.03 mg/kg | — |
| Cheese made from raw milk, Spanish market (group; median 18.38 mg/kg) 1 (Table 1) | 20 | mean 59.37 mg/kg, range nd–389.86 mg/kg | — |
mg/kg = milligrams of histamine per kilogram of food. "Not detected" means below the laboratory's detection limit.
How freshness and processing change it
Feta keeps for a long time in its brine, but it is still a ripened cheese, and a 2012 review of dairy foods reports that amines can keep building up in cheese stored in the fridge. High salt reduced amine production by bacteria in studies that review describes, but its effect on histamine in feta was not measured in the Spanish surveys, so the saltiness is no reassurance.
Pasteurised-milk cheese group: mean 18.05 mg/kg, up to 162.03 mg/kg. (measured)
Raw-milk cheese group: mean 59.37 mg/kg, up to 389.86 mg/kg. (measured)
Why we rate feta 3
Feta looks like a fresh cheese, white, soft and crumbly, but it is a ripened one. The curd is salted, packed into tins or barrels and left to mature in brine before it is sold, mostly from sheep's milk or a mix of sheep's and goat's milk. That ripening is what places it with the aged cheeses rather than with mozzarella and ricotta.
Feta was not tested on its own in the Spanish surveys we use, so the rating comes from the cheese groups measured by a University of Barcelona team and reported in a 2020 review. Feta made from pasteurised milk belongs with the 20 pasteurised-milk cheeses, which averaged 18.05 mg/kg of histamine, with a median of 4.59 mg/kg and a highest sample of 162.03 mg/kg. Traditional feta made from raw milk sits with the raw-milk group, which averaged 59.37 mg/kg and reached 389.86 mg/kg. For comparison, 20 unripened cheeses had no detectable histamine.
Then there is the milk. The review does not say which animals the cheeses came from, so we cannot tell you whether sheep's or goat's milk changes anything. A 2012 review of amines in dairy foods describes what does: pasteurisation lowers amines on average but does not rule them out, because some histamine-forming bacteria survive heating or get in during cheesemaking, and storage temperature matters even in the fridge. The same review reports that high salt cut the production of tyramine and another amine by one kind of bacteria in milk; whether salt does the same for histamine in feta was not measured in the Spanish surveys, so saltiness is no reassurance.
The published diets do not name feta. All ten diets in the team's 2021 review exclude cured, semi-cured and grated cheese, and a 2024 clinical review lists aged cheese among the foods to avoid.
We rate feta 3, "high". The pasteurised-milk group average is below 20 mg/kg, but a sample above 100 mg/kg is documented, and under our rule a fermented food with samples that high is rated 3 because you cannot tell a high batch from a low one by looking. In a Greek salad or a pastry filling, crumbled ricotta or well-drained cottage cheese with a pinch of salt gives the same creamy, salty contrast.
Questions about feta and histamine
Is feta high in histamine?
We rate it 3. Feta is ripened in brine, and ripened cheese made from pasteurised milk averaged 18.05 mg/kg in lab tests, with samples up to 162.03 mg/kg. Feta was not tested on its own in those surveys.
Is feta a fresh cheese?
No. It looks fresh but is matured in brine before it is sold, so it belongs with the ripened cheeses. Fresh cheeses such as ricotta and cottage cheese had no detectable histamine as a group.
Evidence behind this page
- Twenty cheeses made from pasteurised milk averaged 18.05 mg/kg of histamine, with a median of 4.59 mg/kg and a highest sample of 162.03 mg/kg. 1
- Twenty cheeses made from raw milk averaged 59.37 mg/kg, with a highest sample of 389.86 mg/kg; 20 unripened cheeses had none detectable. 1
- All ten published low-histamine diets in the 2021 review exclude cured, semi-cured and grated cheese. 2
- Pasteurisation lowers amines in cheese on average, but some histamine-forming bacteria survive it or enter during cheesemaking. 5
- High salt reduced the production of tyramine and another amine by one kind of bacteria in milk; amines can still rise in refrigerated cheese. 5
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)