The effect of pasteurization,boiling sterilization and high-pressure steam sterilization on the antioxidant activity of loach peptide were investigated.The results showed that the absorbance of loach peptide at 420 nm increased significantly,which was treated by boiling sterilization or high-pressure steam sterilization.Under this condition,the loach peptide could maintain a high ORAC value.Both the DPPH free radical scavenging activity and the reducing power of loach peptide decreased after thermal sterilization treatment,while high-pressure steam sterilization had the least influence on it.Pasteurization and high-pressure steam sterilization could enhance the Cu(Ⅱ) ion chelating activity of loach peptide.Based on the above results,we can conclude that loach peptide had good heat resistance and it could maintain stronger antioxidant activity by high-pressure steam sterilization,which may be related to the Maillard reaction.