Abstract: In order to explore the effects of different combinations of spice essential oils on the quality and safety of air-dried catfish sausages, sausages were prepared from marinated catfish surimi added with a 1:1 (m/m) blend of clove and star anise (CA), clove and perilla (CP), star anise and perilla (AP) or clove, star anise and perilla essential oil (CAP) at 0.03% or none as a control. Moisture content, water activity (aw), pH, color difference, thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) value, biological amine content, N-nitrosamine content, and microbial load were measured. Microbial community structure was analyzed by 16S rDNA high-throughput sequencing. The results showed that the moisture content of the AP group was 27.13%, and the aw value was 0.765. The L* and a* values of the CA group were high, indicating typical characteristics of air-dried sausages. The pH of the four treatment groups was higher than that of the control group, and followed the descending order of CAP > AP > CA > CP. There was no significant difference in the inhibition of fat oxidation among different essential oil combinations (P > 0.05), but the TBARS value of air-dried sausages was significantly reduced by all combinations (P < 0.05). The contents of biogenic amine and N-nitrosamine in the AP group were low. The total number of bacteria, and the number of Enterobacteriaceae and Aeromonas were significantly lower in the AP group than in the control group (P < 0.05). High-throughput sequencing results showed low species richness in the AP and CAP groups and low relative abundance of pathogenic bacteria in the AP group. Overall analysis showed that AP was superior to the other groups in improving the quality and safety of air-dried catfish sausages.

Key words: spice essential oil; catfish; air-dried sausage; quality; 16S rDNA sequencing