What Is the Best Way to Measure the Colour of Sports Drinks?

Measuring your sports drink colours with a reliable spectrophotometer is the best way to determine whether your product has the right colour from batch to batch. Sports drinks are rich in colour and can contain several food dyes regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Obtaining optimal colour stability while remaining FDA-compliant is critical.

How the Colour in Sports Drinks Is Measured

A spectrophotometer measures the colour of sports drinks and many other colour-infused liquids. The spectrophotometer measures the light absorption capacity of the colours present in your sample. It does this by measuring the colour at a particular wavelength to separate the white light into a rainbow of colours. The machine then passes this light through your test sample using diffraction gratings.

Suitable Sports Drink Colour Measurement Solutions

Liquids differ in consistency and transparency, so you cannot calculate the colour of all liquids with the same method. You can measure the colour of translucent and transparent beverages using transmittance spectrophotometry, as light can pass through these drinks fairly easily.

For opaque beverages with lots of pulp, reflectance spectrophotometrycan best measure their colour. This is because light cannot pass through these opaque beverages as efficiently. A quality spectrophotometer that can measure colour of your sports drinks will help you conduct tests quickly and reliably.

Maintaining Industry Standards When Measuring Colour

The colour of your sports drinks must match the beverage industry standards for colour stability and consistency. Having the same colour per batch ensures you save time and money by avoiding the need to fix inconsistencies, and consumers can purchase quality products that appeal to them.

Spectrophotometers ensure you measure your sports drinks more accurately than the human eye by exceeding the eyes' ability to identify intricate colour changes and measurements. A spectrophotometer will help ensure colour consistency while maintaining attractive sports drink colours.

The HunterLab Difference in Sports Drink Colour Measurement

Measuring your sports drinks with a high-quality spectrophotometer is the best way to ensure your beverages appeal to your customers while meeting industry standards. We have some of the most comprehensive spectrophotometers here at HunterLab — our measuring solutions help you measure colour accurately and with speed.

Test your sports drinks in a contactless environment with our spectrophotometers to preserve product safety. Contact us for a quote or call one of our professional team members for more information.