“…Overall, the amount of BAs increases as the time of ripening increases (Bunkova et al, 2010;Novella-Rodrìguez, Veciana-Nogues, Trujillo-Mesa, & Vidal-Carou, 2002;Ordoñez, Ibanez, Torre, & Barcina, 1997;Schneller, Good, & Jenny, 1997;Spizzirri et al, 2013). Previous studies (Mayer, Fiechter, & Fischer, 2010;Novella-Rodrìguez, Veciana-Nogues, IzquierdoPulido, & Vidal-Carou, 2003) showed that cheeses having similar time of ripening markedly differed from each other in terms of BA concentration, and this was attributed mostly to the extent of ripening. Accordingly, in this study, some cheeses (Ragusano PDO, Fior di Capra, Vaccino) showed low BA concentration, although they were ripened for 90e120 d. Further, time of ripening was highly and positively correlated with concentration of lysine, which may indicate a high extent of proteolysis during ripening.…”