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Measuring food appearance Appearance is an important aspect of food quality, but its instrumental measurement is often limited in scope. Technology has been developed for objectively measuring size, shape, colour uniformity and distribution, and average colour in a diversity of products. It has been applied to assessing tomato ripeness, sauce colour in baked beans, the distribution of cherries in a cake, and colour variation through the crust in a slice of bread and the rind of a melon. 
For application to such diverse products a special imaging cabinet was commissioned from DigiEye Ltd to present foods against a neutral background under a choice of controlled lighting conditions. Images captured using a high resolution camera are calibrated against colour standards for accurate colour reproduction and measurement. Software developed by CCFRA is used to measure characteristics of relevance to food. Linked to calibrated printing technologies, the system will yield further benefits such as accurate product documentation, better quality control and easier appearance specification. C&C Hungary applied the system to assessing the colour of red paprika, relating the digital imaging to sensory (descriptive profiling) and chemical measurements of colour. The statistical relationship between the digital image and sensory measurement was much stronger than that between chemical measurement and sensory assessment, which could improve how colour is specified in future. Contact: Dr Martin Whitworth (UK) or Tünde Kuti (Hungary) |