PURPOSE: To provide a color-developing agent having excellent color-developing capability and high safety, free from the problem of imparting ill odor to the food, by using ribose, arabinose or their mixture as a main component.

CONSTITUTION: The objective color-developing agent for fish paste product contains ribose, arabinose or their arbitrary mixture as a main component. D-Glucose has been used hitherto as an additive to color a food in baked color or fried color, however, it is being replaced gradually by D-xylose because the D- glucose contains energy source or growth-promoting substance for microorganisms. Althrough D-xylose is favored by consumers by its capability to develop pale yellow or gold color, it has the problems of evolving ill odor in frying or roasting as well as the susepected lack in safety. Ribose and arabinose develop the same color as D-xylose without emitting ill odor, and have high safety.