Abstract:To investigate the potential of Kocuria rhizophila AP1 and Mammaliicoccus vitulinus AP2 as starter cultures for fermented sausages， AP1 and AP2 were separately inoculated into fermented sausages， and a natural fermentation group was used as a blank control. Changes in physicochemical properties， including viable bacterial count， pH value， color， and the degree of myofibrillar protein degradation， were analyzed during fermentation. The results showed that on day 1 of fermentation， the pH values of sausages inoculated with AP1 and AP2 decreased significantly to the lowest values of 5.86 and 5.83， respectively. After fermentation，the moisture contents of AP1 and AP2 groups decreased to 10.94% and 9.82%， and the nitrite content decreased to 5.67 mg/kg and 7.08 mg/kg， both significantly lower than those of the blank group （P＜0.05）. Additionally， the a*， b*， and C values of inoculated sausages were significantly higher than those of the blank group （P＜0.05）， indicating that AP1 and AP2 improved product safety and promoted color development. As fermentation progressed， the myofibrillar fragmentation index， myofibrillar protein hydrolysis index， total sulfhydryl content， and surface hydrophobicity in the inoculated groups increased significantly and were significantly higher than those in the blank group （P＜0.05）， indicating that inoculated fermentation promoted myofibrillar protein degradation and improved the sensory quality of the sausages.