Cheese is one of the most common fermented dairy foods consumed worldwide. Despite being extensively used, the heating effect on cheese flavor and chemistry has yet to be reported. The impact of heat on cheese aroma profile was assessed using headspace solid-phase microextraction (SPME) coupled to gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A total of 50 volatiles were identified to encompass fatty acid-derived compounds (82%, 75%, and 87%), nitrogenous (7%, 12%, and 10%), aromatics (6%, 2%, and 0.8%), amino acids derived volatiles (1%, 5%, and 0.7%), sugar derived volatile organic compounds (1%-3%), and terpenes (0.5%-3%) in the heated edam, emmental, and gouda cheese, respectively. The fatty acid-derived volatiles (methyl ketones and fatty acids) are likely to contribute to its flavor amounting to 75%-87% in heated gouda, edam, and emmental cheese aroma profile. Nitrogenous compounds amounted for the second abundant class in all heated cheese at 7%-12% represented by alkyl pyrazines, whereas N-nitrosopiperidine a toxic chemical was found only in heated emmental cheese. This study provides the first approach for the use of cold extraction techniques such as SPME coupled with GC-MS to characterize the aroma profile of three major heated cheese, that is, edam, emmental, and gouda analyzed using chemometric tools in comparison to cold cheese. This study is the first to discuss the generation or not of hazardous compounds (N-nitrosopiperidine) in heated cheese that could negatively affect human health upon consumption.Cheese is one of the most common fermented dairy foods, with a countless number of types, forms, textures, and flavors worldwide. Cheese manufacturing (ripening) depends mainly on the complex interaction of cheese flora and enzymes (lipolysis, proteolysis, and fermentation) with fats, proteins, and sugars present in milk (Marilley & Casey, 2004).Aside from the milk type used in the manufacture of different cheeses, a variety of cheese flavors and forms are attributed to the incorporation of different probiotics (Andiç et al., 2015). For example, probiotics involved in edam cheese manufacture are Lactococcus cremoris and eFood.