Is mozzarella high in histamine?
Fresh mozzarella is low in histamine: it is an unripened cheese, and 20 unripened cheeses tested in Spain had none detectable. Mozzarella 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; mozzarella 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
The unripened cheeses were tested as bought, and none of our sources followed them after opening. A 2012 review of dairy foods reports that amines can still build up in cheese kept in the fridge, while freezing holds them back, so eat fresh mozzarella soon after opening. Low-moisture pizza mozzarella is drier, keeps longer and is often sold shredded; it was not measured separately.
Unripened cheese group: none detected in 20 samples. (measured)
Not measured separately; drier, stored for longer, and shredding adds handling. (estimate)
Why we rate mozzarella 0
Mozzarella is one of the safer cheeses on a low-histamine diet, and the reason is that it is not ripened. Histamine in cheese is made by bacteria during ripening, the weeks or months that turn fresh curd into an aged cheese. Fresh mozzarella skips that stage: the curd is stretched in hot water, shaped into balls and sold fresh, usually in brine.
The measurement behind this rating is for a group, not for mozzarella itself. A University of Barcelona team tested 20 unripened cheeses sold in Spain and found no detectable histamine in any of them. Their 2020 review does not list which cheeses were in the group, so we place mozzarella there because of how it is made. The contrast with ripened cheese is large: cheese made from pasteurised milk averaged 18.05 mg/kg and cheese made from raw milk 59.37 mg/kg, with single samples up to 389.86 mg/kg. Other amines were not reported for the unripened group.
The published diets point the same way. All ten diets in the team's 2021 review exclude cured, semi-cured and grated cheese, and fresh cheese does not appear on their chart of excluded foods. A 2024 clinical review names aged cheese, not fresh cheese, among the foods to avoid.
One kind of mozzarella needs more care. Low-moisture mozzarella, the firmer block or bag of shreds sold for pizza, is drier, stays on the shelf for longer and was not measured separately. A 2012 review of amines in dairy foods reports that in some cheeses, grating after ripening was followed by more histamine-forming bacteria and more histamine, so pre-shredded cheese has had more handling. We rate it 1 as an estimate.
We rate fresh mozzarella 0, "low". Buy it fresh, keep it cold and eat it soon after opening. Burrata, a mozzarella shell filled with cream and torn curd, is also unripened and falls in the same group. On a pizza, in a toastie or in a lasagne, mozzarella is the usual swap for aged cheeses such as cheddar and parmesan.
Questions about mozzarella and histamine
Is mozzarella low histamine?
Fresh mozzarella is an unripened cheese, and 20 unripened cheeses tested in Spain had no detectable histamine, so we rate it 0. Mozzarella was not tested on its own; the rating comes from the group.
Is shredded mozzarella higher in histamine than fresh?
It was not measured separately. Low-moisture mozzarella keeps longer, and grating cheese has been linked to more histamine-forming bacteria in some cheeses, so we rate pre-shredded pizza mozzarella 1 as an estimate.
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
- 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
- In some cheeses, grating after ripening was followed by more histamine-forming bacteria and more histamine. 5
- Amines can still rise in refrigerated cheese; freezing at −18 °C held back the increase. 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)