Abstract: With Xinjiang traditional air-dry mutton for research object, this study was analyzed the function of starter culture on the chemical characteristics and protein degradation of air-dry mutton through comparing the inoculated starter with not inoculated starter during processing.The results showed that the Aw value of meat inoculated starter didn’t decrease significantly, but the pH value decreased significantly (p<0.05) .The lowest pH value reached 4.86 and the Aw value reached 0.658.In addition, both TVB-N value and protein contents were below compared with not inoculated starter one, TVB-N value was 6.636mg/100g, total protein contents was 6.44% .The degradation of sarcoplasmic protein and myofibrillar protein occurred gradually during the ripening of air-dry mutton, the protein degradation of inoculated starter air-dry mutton was significant.