Liquid Ingredients

Liquid Ingredients in Color Measurement

Ingredients play a key role in the development of food, with unique flavors and textures and as importantly, influencing the color of the final food product. Major brands around the world understand the importance of ensuring appealing food color as this closely relates to a consumer's perception of flavor. That is why companies like McCormick, Smuckers, ConAgra Foods and other major world-wide brands rely on HunterLab's 70 years of experience and knowledge in providing solutions to ensure color consistency of their food ingredients throughout their supply chain.

Some examples of liquid or 'wet' ingredients include:

• Sugars, such as corn syrup, honey, molasses or maple syrup
• Extracts, such as Vanilla extract and other liquid flavorings
• Oils, such as canola oil or vegetable oil

Liquid ingredients can be opaque, translucent or transparent, and so require different measurement instrumentation and techniques for successful color measurement.

Opaque Liquids

Opaque Liquids are impenetrable by light and are best measured using a Directional 45/0° reflectance instrument. This is the geometry that most closely matches how the human eye 'sees' color.

Translucent Liquids

Translucent Liquids allow light to pass through, but only diffusely, so that objects on the other side cannot be clearly distinguished. Both reflective and transmittance measurement modes may work well depending on the translucency of the sample. As a rule of thumb,

If at the path length that your customer will view the sample, you can see slight details of your thumb or finger through the liquid, then transmittance is the preferred measurement method.

If you cannot see slight details, then reflectance measurement using directional 45°/0° is preferred, though it is also possible to use diffuse d/8° sphere geometry.

Path length is defined as the thickness of the sample from where the light enters to where it exits the sample. A simple test to determine the translucency is to pour the liquid into a clear container that simulates the thickness that the sample will normally be viewed, and hold your thumb on the back of the container and look through the sample.

Transparent Liquids

Transparent Liquids allow light to pass through with little or no interruption or distortion so that objects on the other side can be clearly seen. These liquids can only be measured using transmission instrumentation.

Industries that Benefit from Liquid Ingredient Measurement

There are endless industries that benefit from liquid ingredient measurement. They may use liquid measurement for quality control, color consistency for sales or other factors. These industries include:

• Beverage Industry: Color is an essential factor for customer appeal in the beverage industry. Color measurement ensures consistency and quality control in beverages such as water, coffee, juice, spirits and sodas.
• Chemical Industry: The color of chemicals requires measurement that is objective and precise. Color measurement ensures quality control that is important when handling chemicals.
• Food Industry: For liquid foods such as edible oils, dairy products and tomato sauces, liquid color measurement plays an important part in making sure your food is up to the standards you require. Liquid color measurement of food products ensures consistency and quality control.

Curious if your industry benefits from liquid color measurement? Check out our customer application tool and see what the right color measurement device is for your industry.

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HunterLab has a variety of Liquid color measurement instruments—including benchtop, portable and non-contact spectrophotometers—to fit your specific needs.

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