Milk and dairy products are the oldest and most widely consumed nutritious foods worldwide. They are highlighted as a source of high-quality proteins and the most important sources of bioactive peptides. Milk proteins have high nutritive value and remarkable medicinal properties. They are known as potential health-promoting ingredients of functional foods, and the dairy industry has already commercialized many milk proteins and peptide-based products which can be consumed as part of a regular daily diet. Besides, cheese is highly susceptible to contamination by pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms, which results in a decrease in its shelf life and cause serious risks to the consumers’ health. Nowadays, the food industry is continuously becoming more specialized towards meeting consumer needs and demands. Consumers demand safe products, which are also preferably free of synthetic additives. Therefrom to the need to search for natural additives has emerged. Botanicals and their extracts came to an interest as a natural alternative for cheese preservation and quality enhancer. Some substances have demonstrated good effects against most pathogens of cheese such as Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, and Salmonella spp. Nevertheless, it is not quite clear do the botanical addition affect cheese quality characteristics. This review aims to present the effect of added botanicals such as medicinal plants, herbs, spices and essential oils to cheeses in the function of protection against pathogens and spoilage microorganisms, as well as for their influence on the cheese quality.; Mlijeko i mliječni proizvodi najstarija su i najčešće konzumirana hrana širom svijeta. Ističu se kao izvor visokokvalitetnih proteina i najvažniji izvor bioaktivnih peptida. Mliječni proteini imaju visoku nutritivnu vrijednost i izvanredna ljekovita svojstva. Poznati su kao potencijalni sastojci funkcionalne hrane koja promiče zdravlje, a mliječna industrija već je komercijalizirala mnoge mliječne proteine i proizvode na bazi peptida koji se mogu konzumirati kao dio redovite dnevne prehrane. Osim toga, sir je vrlo osjetljiv na kontaminaciju patogenim i mikroorganizmima kvarenja, što rezultira smanjenjem njegovog roka trajanja i uzrokuje ozbiljne rizike za zdravlje potrošača. Danas se prehrambena industrija sve više specijalizira, a metode obrade se stalno razvijaju kako bi zadovoljile potrebe i zahtjeve potrošača. Potrošači zahtijevaju proizvode koji su sigurni i po mogućnosti bez sintetskih aditiva, što je dovelo do potrebe za traženjem prirodnih alternativa. Ljekovito bilje i njihovi ekstrakti zanimljiva su prirodna alternativa za očuvanje i poboljšanje kvalitete sira. Neke su tvari pokazale dobre učinke protiv većine uzročnika kontaminacije sira, kao što su Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus i Salmonella spp. Ipak, nije sasvim jasno utječe li dodavanje ljekovitog bilja na promjene karakteristika sira. Cilj ovog rada bio je prikazati učinak dodanog ljekovitog bilja, začina i eteričnih ulja na sireve u funkciji zaštite i kvarenja uzrokovanog patogenima i mikroorganizmima, kao i njihovog utjecaja na kvalitetu sira.