Color (Hunter-Lab) determination
Hunter colorimeter is used for color measurements in the food industry. This device has three different color values. Of these, “a” means red or green of food, “b” means yellow or blue, and “L” indicates the degree of brightness between 0 and 100 (black and white).
The International Commission on Illumination (CIE) is a member of the 38 country, including our country. It seeks to communicate and exchange information on light and lighting between the Member States. Since its establishment, it has been recognized as the largest authority in light and lighting. The International Standards Organization (ISO) is also recognized as an international standards organization. The Lab system developed by this organization is a mathematically structured color identification system.
This system is based on three types of light-sensing cells that are anatomically present in the human eye and their sensitivity to blue, green and red lights. By modeling this structure, the colors are expressed in terms of three components, L, a and b.
The Lab color system provides a set of definitions according to the light source and the observer, along with the food to be identified. Therefore, it provides more reliable and precise results than other color identification systems. This method is also known as the three-point measurement method. In this method, the light transmittance values of 0 are not permeable and 100 is completely permeable. In addition, L value indicates the color being light or dark, a value indicates red green axis value in color and b value indicates yellow blue axis value in color.
In the authorized laboratories, color analyzes are performed within the scope of physical analyzes and the standards adopted by national and international organizations are taken as basis in these studies.