This study was conducted to investigate the effect of heat treatment on the start-up performance for anaerobic hydrogen fermentation of food waste. The result showed that hydrogen production was $0.61{pm}0.31$ mol $H_2$/mol hexose with heat-treatment of food waste at $70^{circ}C$ for 60 min whereas it was $0.36{pm}0.31$ mol $H_2$/mol hexose without heat-treatment of one. The heat treatment of food waste enhanced hydrogen yield due probably to the increase of hydrolysis as well as the decrease of non-hydrogen fermentation microorganisms. The removal efficiency of carbohydrate in reactors regardless of heat treatment of food waste maintained over 90%. The hydrogen conversion efficiency from food waste was 1.7-6.3% with heat-treatment whereas it was 0.7-4.5% without heat-treatment. At the time of switchover from batch to continuous operation, lactate concentration was high compared to the n-butyrate concentration in anaerobic hydrogen fermentation reactor without heat-treatment. Anaerobic hydrogen fermentation of food waste with heat treatment was stable in start-up periods because lactate concentration could be maintained at a relatively low compared to n-butyrate concentration due to the decrease of non-hydrogen fermentation microorganisms.