FOOD 2010 Chapter 6: Chapter 6
6 Aug 2015
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Document Summary
Chapter objectives: explain the chemical basis for red meat colour. List the names and important chemical features of plant pigment molecules. Chemical basis of food colour, once understood can help address quality assurance issues regarding colour stability. Light that hits a food object is either absorbed, reflected or transmitted, it is reflected light that determines colour of a food (plants, other objects, etc). Surface food colour is characterized by 3 qualities: hue, the actual colour name, saturation or. Chroma, clarity and purity of colour, intensity, the range from lightness to darkness of colour. Additionally food surface exhibit 4 qualities of light distribution: shiny, glossy, cloudy, and translucent. First two are result of reflected light off food, while the last two are related to the transmission of light through food object. The chemical basis for meat colour would be presence of special molecules in the beef called pigment molecules.
