Derivative spectroscopy was used for quantitative determination of natamycin in cheese. When measuring a methanolic cheese extract against methanol, the second derivative of the UV-spectrum is measured between 340 and 290 nm. The natamycin concentration can be determined by measuring the vertical distance between the minimum at 318 nm and the maximum at 311 nm. Under these conditions the detection limit of natamycin in a pure methanolic solution lies at 20 ng/ml, in cheese extracts at 150 ng/ml. The latter corresponds to a natamycin concentration of 2.5 ppm in the case of a 3 g test sample or 0.03 mg/dm2 in the case of a 25 cm2 cheese surface. The introduction of derivative spectroscopy makes it possible to reduce the interference of cheese substances in the photometric measurements and to increase the sensitivity and selectivity of the detection process. Besides the advantage that work and expenses are reduced - as no pimaricin-free sample has to be extracted from the interior of the cheese - it is also possible to determine natamycin photometrically in cheese, in which it is distributed homogeneously.