A Better Method of Measuring Color and Haze in Beverages

Color and appearance measurements for the beverage industry are used to ensure that the overall product appearance is the same from lot to lot. In the marketplace, it is rare that consumers are permitted to taste food products prior to purchasing them. However, they frequently can look at the product. They make a judgment decision largely based on overall appearance including color.

Coloring the mind of your Consumer:

Never has the consumer been more empowered than now in this digital age where knowledge of the products they purchase has been made available to them at a click or swipe, and this testifies that a greater need has evolved for the F&B industry to build a product with enticing visual properties such as Color and haze without compromising the highest level of quality. A strikingly similar parallel of ‘Go-Green’ campaign has also weaved it’s way in the Food & Beverage industry influencing the consumers to choose naturally colored products over artificially bright and unnatural Colored products, and this has birthed the need to test the quality of the beverage for Color consistency across all stages of the process like production and storage as the ingredient changes can alter the base color of a beverage, resulting in the perception that the product is different or of lower quality.

Diverse Optical Characteristics and their Methods for measurements:

The complexity of successfully measuring Color and appearance in the Beverage Industry is further enhanced by the fact that beverages are of types opaque, translucent or transparent, and each form requires different instrumentation and techniques. Opaque liquids have high solids content with a characteristic of high Brix value when light passes through it and Translucent liquids possess medium levels of solids and exhibits a lower brix value when light passes through it. Therefore, it is crucial for the food processors to assess the right measurement modes like reflective or transmittance before they measure the Color during any stage of processing. This significantly increases the need of a spectrophotometer to measure the spectral data values and also measure the transmission haze.

Maintaining Color through various food processes:

Food and beverages are highly volatile as they tend to change Color during production, transportation and even in storage. The cost and labor of adjusting a food or beverage Color in its final stage of production is very high and hence the Color consistency must be measured at each stage of the production.

Additionally, the Food & Beverage Regulatory bodies stress the importance of maintaining product-specific Color standards in the industry through their elaborate regulations. This makes the measurement of Color and haze to maintain high degrees of Color quality a top priority for the Producers, also accentuating them towards protecting their license to operate.

Thus, this makes the use of Spectrophotometers essential as it addresses both the challenges of meeting regulations and the capability to measure Color and Haze during any stage of the production process.

Strong Case for HunterLab Spectrophotometer (Vista) for Measurement of Color & Haze:

HunterLab’s Vista stands out in the market as it offers a wide range of Color measurement options.

It’s dual capability to simultaneously measure both Color and Haze of the product makes it a viable option in the F&B industry for accurate and dependable measurements. HunterLab can measure both lot-to-lot Color and haze (or no haze for clear drinks) inherent in different beverages.

Vista is a sleek new age measuring instrument with a Digital touch screen display to view instant results. It can connect to a computer via network, Ethernet cable or a wireless access point and also has other connectivity provisions for printer, keyboard and mouse. It is also built to comply with all the regulatory requirements in the Food & Beverage industry.

Vista has its own embedded color management software called EasyMatch Essentials built on Smart OS Technology. Essentials comes preloaded with most scales and indices, including Pt-Co/Hazen/APHA, Gardner Colour, four Pharmacopoeia Standards- US, EU and Japanese, Haze %, Opalescence, Y Total Transmission, CIE Spectral Data, and more. It also sports Multiple data views like Color data, Color view, spectral data and spectral plot among others.

Vista provides electronic calibration, a spill-resistant sample compartment, and a small footprint for improved accuracy, longevity, and flexibility

By large Vista is set out as a pioneer to meet the measurement needs of the food and beverage industry, and HunterLab has established credibility as a veteran for the last 65 years in the field.

Visit our microsite to learn more about Vista.

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