The Likely Effect of the Rise in Global Temperature on Cheese Safety

Global warming is a current global concern affecting food safety since rising temperatures can influence microbial ecology, resulting in the growth and activity of certain bacterial strains producing toxic substances. Rising temperatures jeopardize the safety of fermented products such as cheese. During cheese ripening, the amino acids liberated through proteolytic phenomena are substrates for secondary catabolic reactions through bacteria, resulting in the release of substances with a potential negative impact on human health, such as biogenic amines. Therefore, this work considers the content of biogenic amines in a sheep’s milk cheese produced during the winter and spring period to evaluate the effect of the increment of temperature on the production of these toxic compounds and obtain information on the potential impact of global warming on the safety of cheese. The results showed that spring production had a higher content of biogenic amines than winter production. Given that the lengthening of the warm seasons due to the change in climatic conditions is expected, producers should take action to ensure cheese safety and limit the adverse effect of rising temperatures.