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Toxic biogenic amines (BAs), especially histamine, in food is a major safety issue. Two autochthonous Lactobacillus plantarum strains were inoculated as starters to reduce BAs in Yucha, a kind of spontaneously fermented fish in China. Taxonomic analysis demonstrated the proportion of Lactobacillus genus in inoculated Yucha was higher than that in the spontaneously fermented Yucha, suggesting the effective colonization abilities of the starters. Higher abundance of Lactobacillus genus resulted in less BAs contents in the inoculated Yucha as compared to that in the spontaneously ones throughout the fermentation stage. At the end of fermentation, L. plantarum strains reduced total content of the six BAs by 67.5%–97.3%; specifically, they reduced the concentration of histamine by 85.4%–96.4%. The BAs‐degradation ability in the model systems indicated that the two L. plantarum strains could not degrade BAs directly. Instead, starters reduced BAs accumulation by inhibition of the growth or biological activities of BAs‐producing bacterial genera. Practical applications: The presence of biogenic amines (BAs) in fish products poses a health risk for consumers. This work provided two promising starters to reduce BAs accumulation in Yucha and a foundation for better understanding the BAs metabolic features. These findings could contribute to the safe production of Yucha and other similar fermented fish products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yucha is a home-made, fermented fish product in South China. The quality of yucha can vary depending on environmental factors. In order to determine the effects of temperature on bacterial biodiversity and quality of fermented yucha products, in the present study, yucha was fermented at 15°C, 20°C, 25°C, and 30°C. Bacterial cells in all yucha samples grew from 3.7 log CFU/g at the onset of the fermentation and reached growth over 7.0 log CFU/g within 1 week. Lactobacillus plantarum was predominated in the 20°C and 25°C fermented yucha products, while Lactobacillus sakei and Lactobacillus brevis were the most abundant in the yucha products fermented at 15°C and 30°C, respectively. Predominant bacterial species are presumed to be potential starters to drive yucha fermentation. Evaluation of yucha qualities demonstrated that lower biogenic amine contents, better texture properties, and more desirable volatile compounds were identified in yucha products fermented at 20°C. Therefore, this temperature is recommended for industrial yucha processing in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]