To explore effect of microbial starter culture on physical-chemical quality and safety performance of fermented mutton sausage， N-nitrosamines， biogenic amines， pH， Aw， color change， nitrite and other indicators of fermented mutton sausages being made by adding different combined starter cultures of Lactobacillus sake， Staphylococcus xylosus and Staphylococcus carnosus were measured by using instruments （GC and HPLC so on） in fermentation and mature process. The results showed that： The rate of acid production of compound fermentation（L. sake + S. xylosus + S. carnosus） was significantly faster than that of LS （L. sake + S. xylosus）， LB （L. sake） and control （CO） （P < 0.05） and its pH value was reduced to the lowest at the end of fermentation. The decrease of pH value changed the binding water capacity of proteins， which led to the reduction of Aw in the LSS faster than that of the other three batches， and the finished product was 0.67 （Aw）. The sausage red value （a） was shown as： LSS > LS > LB > CO， and their difference were significant（P < 0.05）. The amount of nitrite residue （LB， LS， LSS for 18.54， 18.43， 19.34 mg/kg， respectively） were significantly lower than that of the control （26.47 mg/kg） and the national safety regulation （30.00 mg/kg） （P < 0.05）. In the fermentation process， the cadaverine and histamine were not detected in the LS and LSS. And the total amount of biogenic amines of the three inoculated starter cultures were significantly lower than that of the CO（P < 0.05）. N-nitrosomethylethylamine（NMEA） only was detected in the three groups of LB， LS and LSS， whose contents were decreased successively， and the types and contents of N-nitrosamines in the three groups were less than that of the CO group （P < 0.05）. To sum up， the use of compound starter can shorten the fermentation period of mutton sausage and improves sausage color； And compound starter can effectively inhibit the nitrate residues in sausage and reduce the content of harmful biogenic amine and N-nitrosamine， and improve product safety.