Interested in a little light reading?

Spices provide culinary flavor and visual appeal, and their color significantly influences perceptions of taste, quality, and freshness. Appearance alterations can identify processes that require changes to uphold color quality. Accurate spice color measurement provides quantifiable data to confirm whether spices meet accepted industry tolerances, quality standards, and customer expectations.

The Value of Accurate Spice Color Analysis

Several compelling reasons to measure spice color are:

• Quality control: Consumers judge food quality by color, and high moisture content, temperature fluctuations during storage, and spice age significantly impact appearance. Quantifying and monitoring the color quality of spices supports higher-quality end products.
• Business impact: People also expect certain spice colors to enhance food's visual appeal. Consistently delivering the desired color fosters brand loyalty and can create lifelong brand enthusiasts.
• Conformance with standards: Some spices, such as paprika and oleoresin spices, have specific industry standards they may follow. Other spices use different industry-recognized color spaces, like Hunter L, a, b. Accurate measurements document conformance with frameworks.

Integrating Measurements Throughout Manufacturing

Taking multiple measurements allows manufacturers to monitor the color quality at critical production points, simplifying issue identification and empowering early resolution to reduce waste. Quantifying data at various stages also pinpoints where color alterations occur so you can proactively adjust. Consider implementing color measurement across production, from raw material inspections to in-process color data capture and finished product verification.

Sample Considerations for Spice Manufacturers

Spices come with unique color measurement challenges, including:

Sample Size vs. Cost

Sample size may not concern those working with low-cost spices like black pepper, but quantifying color in high-cost spices like saffron represents a more significant expense. Manufacturers of these more costly spices benefit from minimizing the sample amount required. A highly precise and accurate color measurement solution supports greater confidence in outcomes, even with smaller samples. The right tool also means less waste of valuable ingredients, so more goes toward retail shelves and your bottom line.

Nonuniform Materials

Spices are naturally nonuniform, containing various textures, sizes, and shapes from their processed plant parts. Blends like seasoning salt or curry powder further increase complexity with a mix of different spice ingredients. These variations make visual comparisons unreliable and accurate data capture challenging without the right technology.

Color is a critical quality component for spices like paprika. The American Spice Trade Association (ASTA) has sampling and measurement standards for paprika, and a spectrophotometer from HunterLab effectively quantifies paprika color values for quality assurance.

How Paprika and Oleoresin Spices Are Made

Paprika is obtained from the ripened, ground, and dried fruit pods of the Capsicum annuum species. The Capsicum annuum peppers used for paprika are sweet and mild with little to no capsaicin, which is a heat compound.

The Capsicum annuum plant is grown until its peppers are mature and have ripened to a red color. The fully ripened peppers are picked for paprika to give the spice its signature red color. The pepper seeds are removed, and the fruit pods are dried in the sun or specially constructed dryers. After drying, producers grind peppers into powder.

Oleoresin paprika — or paprika extract — is the oil-soluble extract obtained by extracting lipids and pigments from Capsicum annuum Linn or Capsicum frutescens fruits. The oleoresin comprises capsaicin, capsanthin, and capsorubin, giving the product a strong taste and odor. Oleoresin paprika is a natural dye that colors foods a deep red color.

Color isn't just visual—it's emotional. It shapes how we feel about the food we eat and the trust we place in the brands behind it. Now, more than ever, that trust is being tested. With growing evidence that synthetic food dyes like Red No. 40 and Yellow No. 5 may harm children's health, and with global regulators stepping in, food manufacturers face a moral and market imperative: it's time to go natural.

The 2025 Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Report has sent a clear signal—reformulate or be left behind. But moving away from synthetic dyes isn't just about compliance. It's about delivering safer, cleaner, and emotionally resonant food experiences. And that’s where HunterLab comes in.

Why Synthetic Food Dyes Are Being Banned

From hyperactivity in children to outdated FDA safety standards, synthetic dyes have become a public health concern. The MAHA Report, backed by federal agencies, is pushing for urgent reevaluation. Europe has long since labeled or banned these additives—and the U.S. is finally catching up.

For food brands, the message is clear: if you're still using petrochemical dyes, your products—and your reputation—are at risk.

Scientific Challenges of Going Natural

Switching from synthetic to natural colorants isn’t easy. Food scientists must solve for:

• Stability: Natural dyes degrade in heat, light, or acidic conditions.
• pH Sensitivity: Color shifts based on a product’s pH.
• Flavor Impact: Many natural pigments affect taste.
• Consistency: Batch-to-batch variation in natural ingredients.
• Supply & Cost: Natural colors are costlier and harder to scale.
  

Protecting Brand Integrity Through Color Precision

Inconsistent ingredient color can cost manufacturers millions in rejected batches, regulatory setbacks, and lost consumer trust. For global ingredient leader Kemin Industries, ensuring color accuracy is not just an aesthetic concern—it's central to product quality and customer satisfaction. That’s why Kemin relies on HunterLab's advanced color spectrophotometers to protect the integrity of over 500 ingredient solutions across food, pet nutrition, and more.

Operating across more than 20 countries with 15 production facilities, Kemin faces the complex task of maintaining visual uniformity in highly diverse ingredient forms. From powders and granules to liquids and pellets, their customers expect one thing: consistency. And in today's competitive baking and snack markets, even slight color deviations can signal oxidation, processing errors, or shelf-life risks.

The Challenge: Detecting Oxidative Change Before It Affects Quality

Lipid-based oxidation is a persistent challenge in the baking and snack industries. As fats and oils degrade, they visibly darken ingredient color—even before other sensory qualities change. These early shifts can result in customer dissatisfaction or failed quality checks.

For Kemin, early detection of these subtle changes is essential to delivering on their promise of quality. They needed a solution that was:

• Sensitive enough to catch imperceptible color shifts
• Scalable across facilities and ingredient types
• Easy to operate with minimal variability between users

Grains are integral to our everyday diets, from rice and flour to cereals, baked goods, and pasta. The color of raw grains contributes directly to their nutritional value, while the color of final goods can influence consumer buying preferences and quality perceptions. Understanding and following industry standards for grain color helps manufacturers maintain quality control, reduce waste, and boost customer satisfaction.

Applicable Color Standards in the Grains Industry

The United States Department of Agriculture is the main government oversight body for raw grains, and its color standards are used for classification and grading. Color can also help determine a grain's suitability for a specific application, as color variances can indicate damage that falls outside allowable tolerances for certain purposes.

The Cereals and Grains Association is the primary industry organization that develops color standards for grain manufacturers and processors. For example, the association has established color benchmarks and measuring methods for pasta products and durum flours. These standards are also compatible with those issued by AOAC International, which upholds standards across the broader agricultural chemistry field.

Tomatoes are essential in meeting global nutritional needs, improving health, and generating economic impact for communities worldwide. Billions depend on this crop — the second most grown vegetable on Earth — for better physical well-being and financial gain. As a result, color is a critical factor in quality control for tomato manufacturing.

The Role of Color in Tomato Quality Control

Tomato color influences customer preference, quality perceptions, grading classifications, and market value.

Meeting Consumer Preferences

Assessing color is one of the primary ways consumers make buying decisions. They see a tomato with a rich, red hue as a promise that it was harvested at the peak of freshness and flavor. Unripe ones and heirloom green varietals hint at a delightfully tart taste, perfect for a favorite Southern dish. Similar color associations exist for tomato-based products, such as tomato paste and sauce.

Beyond taste, tomatoes are prized for their nutraceutical content — they're high in several vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and fiber that offer physical benefits. The more their color meets or exceeds customer expectations, the higher the consumer perceptions of the product's safety and quality. Increased confidence in those traits directly translates into a rise in purchase likelihood.

Conforming With Standards

Modern tomato processing facilities are covered entities under Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations, which subjects them to oversight by the Food and Drug Administration and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). As a result, they must follow Current Good Manufacturing Practices, which include measuring color as part of quality assurance. The USDA sets color tolerances for tomatoes to help determine their grade, meaning quantifying color is essential for proper classification.

Those operating under voluntary frameworks may also need to evaluate color for conformance with the guidelines. For example, the Safe Quality Food standards specify color analysis as a vital quality assurance measure under several codes.

Leveraging Financial Potential

Businesses that thrive often do so by maximizing their profitability, and color quality is a key driver in that quest. Generating high consumer quality perceptions through color can help goods fetch premium prices, as buyers with increased product confidence are frequently willing to pay more for extra peace of mind.

For companies seeking to expand, color quality becomes even more essential. Tomatoes and tomato-based products must meet specific standards to access new markets that can help spur organizational growth.

For example, the EU has multiple standards that apply to imported tomatoes and tomato-based products. These help establish the minimum grades acceptable for sale within the bloc, and color is a primary determinant in that classification. Individual EU countries may also impose their own standards for the crop and its processed goods. Accurately quantifying color to prove conformance with the standards makes it easier to access these high-value markets.

Color is one of the first things that comes to mind when thinking of candy, as this sweet comes in a rainbow of vibrant hues. The importance of appearance in candy means that those who manufacture it should follow industry best practices to ensure an enjoyable consumer experience.

Consider the Importance of Color

Before you start measuring, note why color matters in candy. Consumers judge food based on appearance, and color sets expectations for quality and taste. Beyond those expectations, color influences whether customers buy a product. They repeatedly turn to brands that offer color consistency as a reliable indicator of quality.