You Eat with your Eyes

Whether checking the ripeness of fruit and vegetables, the appetizing colour of a ready made tomato sauce or the rich colour of chocolate, the impact of colour on what ends up in the consumer’s basket is undeniable. Colour communicates freshness, flavour and quality. Compared to the variety of parameters which require accurate analytical monitoring in a food laboratory, colour represents the only immediately apparent quality indicator and deserves the appropriate attention through objective and repeatable measurement of raw materials, production processes and the final product.

Supermarket shelves are dominated by processed food and customers expect consistency. Colour variance may no longer represent the natural characteristics of ingredients but poor mixing, a change of recipe or older product. Processed foods require accurate analysis and monitoring of colour change throughout production. For example, when replacing synthetic colours (especially for diary products) the natural colour may display decreased colour stability over time and/or temperature change, making accurate colour control essential.

In addition to ensuring consistency for products that are displayed in large numbers on supermarket shelves, colour measurement has proven useful in monitoring consumer preference surveys and for research and development of improved processing methods. In the agricultural industries, portable instruments and objective colour measurement are replacing grade scales based on visual assessment (e.g. meat classification, salmon colour, egg yolk colour). Konica Minolta Sensing is a leading provider of colour management solutions to the food, ingredients and beverage industry, supplying instruments to suit any application, either in the field, the factory or the laboratory.

Konica Minolta instruments are supported by a range of accessories designed to assist users in obtaining repeatable measurements of samples. Optical glass cells are available to measure liquids in transmission, and a granular materials attachment is available to get a consistent presentation of powders and granules.

Portable and reliable measurements with the Chroma-Meter CR-400 & CR-410

Konica Minolta portable Chroma-Meters have become a “defacto standard” in the food and ingredients industry. The CR-400 and CR-410 have proven their value thousands of times over for usability, portability, durability and reliability as well as flexibility in terms of sample forms including solids, paste, powder and granules. The small (CR-400) or large (CR-410) measurement area ensures repeatable measurements whether measuring homogenous or irregular food products.

Versatile Spectrophotometer: Konica Minolta CM-5

The CM-5 delivers next generation spectral colour measurement for the laboratory, setting new standards in terms of total application flexibility and a design concept that provides unprecedented levels of user friendliness. The CM-5 was designed based on the experience and requirements of customers in the food, pharmaceutical and chemical industry to accurately, repeatably and quickly measure colour data for a vast variety of sample types.

Users of the CM-5 will benefit in terms of higher productivity through user friendly colour measurement for almost any sample. The top port alignment allows the reflectance measurement of opaque samples whether they are solid, powder, granule, paste or liquid, whilst the transmission chamber is used for transparent or translucent forms such as beverages, sauces and dyes.

The ease of use for routine measurements was a key factor in the development process, the CM-5 features on screen user guides and a USB port that allows users to configure and store different user profiles. The large colour display and built in firmware controls all the functions of the instrument and is available in eight languages. The instrument can also be used with SpectraMagic NX2 colour data software to provide extended storage, reporting and analysis.

Laboratory Colorimeter: Konica Minolta CR-5

The CR-5 is a benchtop colorimeter, ideally suited to the measurements needed for quality control. The instrument features the same time saving and user friendly features as the CM-5 including a colour LCD screen to display on screen instructions, user defined PASS / FAIL tolerances, top port measurement for easy placement of samples and a USB port to enable users to set up custom profiles and record data.