Abstract: To reduce the production of 4-methylimidazole(4-MeI)in caramel pigment,so as to solve the problem of toxicity caused by 4-methylimidazole. How to study the preparation of reduce 4-methylimidazole content in caramel color,glucose and ammonium carbonate were used for preparing caramel color with a high quality,and decreasing the 4-methylimidazole by high-pressure reaction technology. Orthogonal array design was employed for investigating the effects of heating temperature and time,the mass fraction of catalyst(calculated by NH₄⁺)and the mass concentration of glucose on color intensity,red index and 4-methylimidazole(4-MeI)content. The results showed that:An optimized product,prepared at 135 ℃ for 80 min using 500 g/L glucose-water solution with 3% ammonium chloride(calculated by NH₄⁺)as reactant,was obtained with the color intensity 6.73×10⁴ EBC,red index 5.21 and 4-methylimidazole content as 198.34 μg/mL. This study optimized the caramel production process and obtained a good quality caramel with low 4-MeI,which provided a theoretical basis for the production of high quality caramel.