Measure to Ensure the Color Stays Right

The association between food appearance and quality is a learned relationship,
so color tells consumers a lot about a food product.

BY HAL GOOD

Excerpted from Food Quality magazine, Feb/Mar 2004 issue

DUKE ELLINGTON ONCE SAID, "IF IT SOUNDS GOOD, IT IS GOOD." 

Similarly, most consumers believe if it looks good, it is good.

Strong associations between the consumer 's judgement of a product 's appearance and its taste are learned through experience.  Discolored meat, for example, is recognized as old and lacking in freshness.  Consumers conclusions about some products are based almost totally on color.  No wonder the food industry is so concerned with monitoring color.  Just as corporate colors identify a company, many foods are associated with specific colors:  Granny Smith green,citrus orange and yellow, for example.

Sometimes product color translates directly to economic value, as with tomato color.  However,the ability of food processors to achieve desired appearance or color in the final product is limited.  Minor color corrections commonplace in other industries are unacceptable in food production.   Even where food dyes are permitted to produce a desired color, the variety of dyes available for the purpose is finite.  So food processors pay attention to the color of raw materials and to the changes that occur with each step of production.  Some also monitor color during storage and distribution.

Download a full copy of this article here (pdf format)