The behavior of hydrogen peroxide (H
2O
2) added to laboratory-prepared salted and semi-dried sardine was investigated. When the soaking solutions containing 1000 and 5000μg/ml H
2O
2 were used, the residual H
2O
2 ranging from 0.18 to 71.9μg/g was detected in sardines after salting and bleaching. The residual H
2O
2 contents in sardines were influenced by the manufacturing method, the amount of H
2O
2 added to soaking solutions and the concentration of sodium chloride in soaking solution. After washing, the residual H
2O
2 ranging from 0.43 to 1.21μg/g was detected in sardines soaked in the solution containing 5000μg/ml H
2O
2. After drying, no residual H
2O
2 was found in all salted and semi-dried sardines. During the manufacturing process of salted and semi-dried sardine, H
2O
2 in sardines was completely decomposed. Catalase-activities ranging from 14.2 to 46.7U/g were detected in surface layer of both thawed raw sardine and prepared salted and semi-dried sardines soaked in the solutions with and without 5000μg/ml H
2O
2. From these results, decomposition and disappearance of H
2O
2 during the manufacturing process of salted and semi-dried sardine seemed to be due to the action of catalase in sardine.
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