Specification of Food Appearance

Developments in calibrated imaging technology enabled us to offer new services to members, based on objective measurement and accurate recording of product colour. Digital images captured under controlled conditions can be accurately printed or displayed on screen for comparison with production samples, for documentation and evaluation of food appearance, as Dr Martin Whitworth explains:

"We´ve worked with products as diverse as bread, cake, fruit, vegetables and sauces. One way we use the system is to document results of process trials - enabling reliable comparisons between products produced on different occasions or stored over time.

The images provide a permanent record of appearance that can also be used for product specifications and distributed as required - as prints or by e-mail.

The approach enables two factories on opposite sides of the world to work to identical product colour specifications - a powerful tool for managing quality, developing and discussing new products, or benchmarking against an agreed standard.

We can help companies use the technology with their own products - by providing high quality prints of their products to use as reference standards, or by helping with calibration to enable them to print images accurately themselves."