Quality control of meat products is one of the main concerns of consumers, governmental 12 control authorities, and retailers. The purpose of this study was to employ ribose-induced 13 Maillard reaction in detection of meat adulteration, and differentiation of fresh-chilled 14 from frozen-thawed minced veal. The browning intensity was assessed through 15 measuring the absorbance at 420 nm with a spectrophotometer as well as the direct 16 analysis of the color and pH. The results showed that CIE b*, CIE a*, and A420* values 17 in the extract of fresh-chilled veal were significantly (p<0.05) higher than frozen-thawed 18 samples. The extract of frozen meat samples stored at ˗18°C became significantly darker 19 and more yellowish compared to ˗4°C. The results showed that the A420* value in the 20 frozen-thawed veal stored at −4ºC and −18ºC was reduced by approximately 17.22±3.53% 21 and 11.68±2.49%, respectively, compared with fresh-chilled veal. The findings also 22 showed that the storage temperature of minced veal and the heating time in this reaction 23 had a significant effect on all tested variables (p<0.0001). The proposed method can be 24 considered as an easy, quick, and inexpensive test for differentiating between the fresh-25 chilled and frozen-thawed minced veal.

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