Few studies on hydrothermal treatment (HT) of food waste (FW) considered the impact of melanoidins formation due to Maillard reaction on acidogenic fermentation. Here, the effects of different melanoidins doses on volatile fatty acid (VFA) production were investigated. Results showed that the solubilization and degradation of proteins can be inhibited by the presence of melanoidins. M the high-dose melanoidins, VFA production from FW was reduced by 12%. Besides, the bovine serum albumin degradation rate declined 22% with the high-dose melanoidins effectively identified their inhibition effect. However, the unaffected carbohydrates utilization led to insignificant VFA disparity at lower doses of melanoidins, because carbohydrates contributed the major VFA yield. The consumption of substrates due to melanoidins formation mainly caused WA reduction, which contributed to 82% of substantial VFA loss. Therefore, controlling the formation of melanoidins may help the application of HT and enhance the resource recovery from FW.