Meat and Colour. Is Red the only Game in Town?

A lot has been said and written about the artificial colouring of meat either by some chemical treatment or trick lighting at the point of sale. While certain colourant's can be measured and tracked by their colour characteristics, and even light sources screened for "Unfair" or  "Flattering" lighting (Imagine if Hollywood was not allowed to cheat!) there are many more things Spectroscopy can do to evaluate or categorise output from your local butcher.

It has long been known that the composition of animal feeds can affect the colour of meat, which in turn can have a relationship with fat content, the type of fat content, and eventually health and even flavour outcomes.


Dr Cobus Ferreira completed a study in 2014 which demonstrates these assumptions, particularly with relation to Pork meat. it was found that Pork quality can be improved upon when using a natural feed additive CLA (Conjugated linoleic acid).

Details of the study cane be found here.Study details

You will notice that colour measurements were carried out with our Konica Minolta Chroma Meter CR400.

This instrument is one of the most used colour measurement devices in food research, partly due to its accuracy, reliability and affordability. Backward compatibility for 20 years also makes this model a very valuable research tool.