Abstract: Three lactic acid bacterial (LAB) strains (namely Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus plantarum and Pediococcus pentosaceus) with antioxidant activities, screened from traditional dry-cured fish, were used as starter culture to ferment drycured hairtail. The changes in lipid oxidation of dry-cured fermented hairtail during processing were determined in terms of pH value, peroxide value, acid value, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) value and hexanal content. Moreover, the effect of LAB fermentation on the fatty acid composition of dry-cured hairtail was analyzed. All indices were analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA) eventually. The results indicated that LAB fermentation could inhibit the oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids. The peroxide value, TBARS value, hexanal content and staturated fatty acid content of fermented dry-cured hairtail were significantly lower than those of traditional dry-cured hairtail, but the acid value and unsaturated fatty acid content were significantly higher than those of traditional dry-cured hairtail. The first principal component reflected the degree of lipolysis, while the second principal component reflected the degree of lipid oxidation. And the principal component functions were Y1 = 0.131X1 + 0.208X2 + 0.360X3 + 0.244X4 + 0.083X5 ? 0.388X6 + 0.324X7 + 0.343X8 and Y2 = 0.330X1 + 0.406X2 + 0.182X3 + 0.440X4 + 0.294X5 ? 0.205X6 + 0.135X7 + 0.157X8, respectively. These results provide a good theoretical basis for controlling the safety of fermented dry-cured fish.

Key words: dry-cured fish, lactic acid bacteria, lipid oxidation, principal component analysis