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Color Analysis

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Food Analysis

Part of the book series: Food Science Text Series ((FSTS))

Abstract

Food scientists who establish quality control specifications for their product are very aware of the importance of color and appearance. While subjective visual assessment and visual color standards are still used in the food industry, objective instrumental color measurements are extensively employed. This chapter provides a brief description of human physiology of vision and an overview of the different color-ordering and color-measuring systems. Included are the CIE tristimulus system and tristimulus colorimeters, with coverage of the Hunter Lab system, the CIEL*a*b* system, and the L*C*H* system. Also covered are sample preparation and presentation to get measurements that are repeatable and that correspond to visual appearance. The chapter is limited to presenting the basic underlying principles that allow for an understanding of how color of food products should be measured.

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Acknowledgment

The authors of this chapter wish to acknowledge Dr. Jack Francis, a legend in the area of color analysis and the person who wrote the chapter on this topic in two previous editions of this book. Ideas for the content or organization, along with some of the text, came from his chapter. Dr. Francis offered the use of his chapter contents.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food Science and Technology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331-6602, USA

    Ronald E. Wrolstad & Daniel E. Smith

Authors
  1. Ronald E. Wrolstad
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  2. Daniel E. Smith
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ronald E. Wrolstad .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    S. Suzanne Nielsen

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© 2017 Springer International Publishing

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Wrolstad, R.E., Smith, D.E. (2017). Color Analysis. In: Nielsen, S.S. (eds) Food Analysis. Food Science Text Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45776-5_31

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