Abstract:The beef samples were dried at different conditions[control（15 ℃for 7 d），group A（50 ℃for 30 h），group B（55 ℃for 27 h），group C（60 ℃for 24 h），group D（65 ℃for 21 h）] and the effects of different drying conditions on beef quality were studied.The beef quality indicators included moisture content，water activity（aw），Warner-Bratzler shear force（WBSF），protein oxidation，thiobarbituric acid reactive substances（TBARS），free amino acids（FAAs），and sensory attributes.The results showed that drying at high temperature for short time had no significant effect on the moisture or aw（p>0.05），while it changed the WBSF of the beef（p<0.05）.Fat oxidation，protein oxidation，and protein hydrolysis of beef increased with the increase in drying temperature.After air drying，the highest TBARS and carbonyl content in the five samples were 1.18 mg MDA/kg and 4.66 mmol/mg protein，respectively，below the national standards，and the total FAAs was the highest in group B（628.88 mg/100 g）.The gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry（GC-IMS）showed that the main volatile flavor substances in group B were the most abundant and had the largest differences from those in the other four groups.The main characteristic flavor substances were propyl butyrate，diethyl malonate，ethyl octanoate，isobutyl propionate，methyl acetate，hexyl acetate，and octyl acetate.Therefore，elevating drying temperature within a certain range is an effective way to accelerate the dry process and improve the sensory attributes such as color，flavor，and texture of dried beef.With full consideration to all the quality indicators，drying at 55 ℃for 27 h was the optimal scheme.