Colour measurement for the Food industry

Colour measurement solutions for the food industry
Colour quality control and development solutions for virtually all food products.

How is colour measurement used in the food and beverage industry

In the food and beverage industry, colour measurement instruments are widely used to develop and produce products that are appetising and consistent. Colour can help products to blend in and fit in with competitors and expectations but used correctly colour can also help brands to stand out and diversify themselves.

During the development process

Colour data for ingredients, dyes etc can be used to blend ingredients to achieve the desired appearance. Measurement instruments can also aid the development process by consumer preference testing samples, or other tests like documenting the effect of aging or heating on products / ingredients.

In production environments

Colour measurement instruments can be used for process control, for example taking baking contrast measurements to control for the speed of the line or evaluating the blending of ingredients. Colour data can ensure time and opportunity for near real time adjustment.

In final quality control checks

Colour measurement instruments can quickly and non-subjectively assess samples against a target colour and tolerance making the final judgement whether product colour is consistent. For appearance-based QC, a measuring instrument can significantly aid the efficiency and throughput of workers.

Jump to specific food and beverage types

The BC-10 Baking contrast meter quickly provides objective data for colour in Lab and BCU (Baking Contrast Units)
For many producers, colour measurement is used to define colour bands or groups to sort produce quickly, either to meet customer specifications or to deliver a consistent appearance. These systems can be aligned to internal quality criteria or external grading frameworks such as EU marketing standards, where colour assessment can factor in class assignment.
Ingredient and raw material suppliers often work to a defined target colour with agreed tolerances, ensuring that downstream production remains consistent and within specification. This supports clear communication across the supply chain and helps manufacturers meet both customer expectations and regulatory requirements.
For products that are brewed, fermented or aged, colour measurement is used to monitor process development, providing insight into flavour progression and optimal timing. In these applications, colour indices offer a simple, repeatable method to control production and ensure batch-to-batch consistency.
In more processed food products, colour data supports product development by helping teams select colours that appeal to consumers while ensuring they can be consistently reproduced in production. By capturing traceable colour data for raw materials, ingredients and process effects, manufacturers can maintain control over product appearance and meet internal quality standards.
In quality control, measuring instruments enable rapid and objective comparison of finished products against stored standards. This allows teams to assess colour differences quickly and accurately, outperforming visual assessment and colour charts, while supporting consistent, traceable and compliant quality decisions.
Customers expect consistency. When it comes to the food we eat, our brains are wired to check for warning signs for our own safety, often subconsciously. The effect of this is that inconsistency quickly erodes trust in products, brands, even by extension in the places that sell the product. Product that is wasted before it reaches the store is a waste of money and, time and resource but product wasted at stores also risks the supply relationship, store and shelf position potentially damaging the producer more in the long term.
Long before the food that we purchase is tasted or smelt, purchase decisions are made to select products from the shelf, often made on visual decision-making criteria. The saying goes that "you eat with your eyes", and 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.
Hyperspectral measurement of bread products using a Specim FX camera
Konica Minolta has a global reach, with local sales and expertise to assist you in establishing a successful digital colour data system. Whether between supply chain partners, in development, in production or in QC, our teams can deliver a solution that meets your needs, and partner with you to scale that system as those requirements grow. Our measuring instruments are supported by an extensive network of authorised service facilities to ensure that your instrument is maintained, accurate, and traceable all year round.
Our experienced teams can help you to establish a measurement process that is accurate and repeatable whether used in R&D or on the production line, whether measuring the colour of cheese, meat, wine, dyes, coffee beans, fresh vegetables, or baking contrast units (BCU) on bread rolls.
Konica Minolta offers traceable and trusted measurement technology and software for the food industry, including simple tristimulus colorimeters, versatile bench-top spectrophotometers, a range of controlled colour viewing solutions, and in-line hyperspectral machine vision systems.
Tristimulus Colorimeter
A tristimulus colorimeter or chromameter is a simple and cost-effective colour measurement device that measures colour using 3 filters that correlate with the way the cells in the human eye perceive colour. The significant benefit of a chromameter like the CR-410 is that its large measurement aperture averages colour over a large area, which is extremely efficient for less homogeneous samples.
Benchtop Spectrophotometer or Colorimeter
A benchtop spectrophotometer or colorimeter like the CM-5 (benchtop spectrophotometer) or CR-5 (benchtop colorimeter) enables the measurement of liquid samples in transmission, invaluable for measurement of many food dyes, ingredients and beverages whilst also facilitating the easy and repeatable measurement of solid or powdered samples on the top facing measurement port.
Hyperspectral Machine Vision Systems
Hyperspectral data captured with a camera system like the Specim FX-10 allows food producers a huge array of high speed inline inspection capabilities, not only for the colour of foodstuffs but more widely in analysis of unsorted ingredients, identifying distribution of ingredients, quantifying the fat or moisture content of products, classification of fruit/vegetables etc based on % colour standards and much more.
You will find more information about the products recommended for specific industry applications in the specific solutions sections.

Colorimeters for colour control in the food industry

Compared to the variety of parameters which require 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.

Colorimeters are widely used in the food industry for their simplicity, relative robustness and the ability to provide a larger measurement aperture than a comparable spectrophotometer, the end result for the operator is almost the same, colour data and colour difference information in easy to use, easy to understand CIELAB universal colour space. The filter-based colorimeter or chroma meter outputs CIELAB L*a*b* colour data and for most process or quality control applications in the food industry the tradeoff (single illuminant, no spectral reflectance data) is acceptable for the significant gains achieved through averaging a larger area in a single measurement. For in-homogeneous samples, beans, grains and much more the operator would need to measure significantly more times to achieve a representative average of the colour of the item, significantly extending the length of the process to achieve repeatable and representative data.

There are even colorimeters that are customised to specific food applications i.e. tomato measurement and coffee measurement, these devices use custom firmware that is specific to the indices used for those products or accessories that are purpose designed for repeatability of those samples.

Portable colorimeters reach their limitations with transparency. For most liquid, partially or fully transparent samples, the benchtop colorimeter CR-5 or spectrophotometer CM-5 will offer the best measurement process, measuring samples through an optical glass or disposable measurement cell of 2, 10 or 20mm depth. For most colour control in food and beverage applications the CR-5 is the economical choice.

Cheese colour measured on a CM-5 Spectrophotometer

Colour communicates freshness, flavour, and quality

Key benefits of colour measurement for food and beverage producers

Improve shelf appeal

Produce products with appealing and consistent colours that will win attention from consumers on competitive supermarket shelves.

Faster and more repeatable QC

Visual colour charts are not only subjective but can also take longer than instrumental control. Instrumental measurement generates traceable and actionable data that is useful for scaling production, statistical analysis and more.

Reduce waste

By controlling ingredients and processes, production becomes more consistent. By understanding the impact on product appearance of aging and exposure to heat, food businesses can control and adapt to combat undesirable visual changes that lead to waste.

Improved process control

Controlling the colour of ingredients and the effect of processing means that colour measurement can act as a simple process control tool.

Comply with industry standards

Meet international and regional standards where colour is a key quality parameter. Objective colour data enables consistent, traceable assessment and reduces the risk of non-compliance or rejected goods.

Example applications of colour control in the food and beverage industry

Use a colour index as a signal of completed brewing

Establish a colour index for brewed or aged product that aids in process control by telling the sampler when a product is ready and has a colour as deep as expected.

Adapt production with colour targets for ingredients

Adapt production from one ingredient supplier to another or onboard new suppliers to expand production by establishing colour targets and tolerances for ingredient groups.

Use colour data to understand what consumers really like

Improve value and accuracy of data from consumer preference testing with colour data that can help identify just how red a tomato sauce should be or the most appealing pistachio green.

Eliminate subjectivity from grading using a colour index

Colour data measured against an index can improve the speed and accuracy of grading and sorting and QC, eliminating subjectivity and generating data for other controls or analysis.

Further information on colour measurement for specific food and beverage types

The links below will show you more application specific recommendations of products, accessories, software and approaches relevant to distinct areas of the food and beverage industry from each of these pages you can contact your local representative for advice or a quotation.

Colour QC Measurement for Solid Food

Improve consistency of products and perception of quality on the plate by developing exciting and realistic coloured products.

Colour QC Measurement for Liquid Food

Perform QC and process control colour measurements on liquid food and beverages for customer perception, shelf life and stability testing for products including dairy, beer, cider, wine, juices, etc.