DigiEye - a reliable tool for the creation of accurate Visual Specifications

THE COLOUR OF MEAT - A KEY ATTRIBUTEColour is arguably the most important quality parameter for meat and poultry products as it directly influences consumers’ purchase decisions. IF THE COLOUR IS NOT RIGHT THE CONSUMER WILL NOT BUY IT.

Consumers associate colour with freshness, so it’s important the meat colour matches their expectations. For red meat, they expect to see a bright red pigment, whilst for mature beef a darker colour would be acceptable.

Cured meat such as bacon or ham should be pink, not grey, and poultry colour very much depends on its provenance and the diet on which the bird was fed; UK consumers tends to favour a creamy white coloured skin, while in the USA a yellow coloured corn-fed bird is more preferred.

However, colour is still often measured subjectively in the food industry.

In a Campden BRI facilitated project, a major UK high street retailer, with the cooperation and full support of its relevant suppliers, used the DigiEye Imaging System to establish a set of quality specifications for specific visual characteristics of poultry products.

VISUAL STANDARDS NEEDEDCampden BRI was approached by one of their members, a major UK high street retailer, for advice on a reliable method of creating sets of definitive visual specifications for their range of poultry products to ensure their products were attractive and appealing at point of sale to their customers.

The project, which was facilitated by Campden BRI, required visual specifications to be agreed by their suppliers and made available as colour accurate prints, offering consistent and reliable visual aids for use by those involved with visual quality within the supply-chain.

Visual specifications were required for a range of visual characteristics of poultry. The retailer fully understood the influence a product’s colour and appearance has on consumers’ purchase decisions and that poor visual attributes could lead to loss of sales and increase in product and packaging waste.

COOPERATION & CONSENSUS The retailer and their suppliers were invited to a workshop at Campden BRI where the objective was to set tolerance limits for the poultry products supplied. The suppliers brought along the product range they each produced for the retailer including legs, breasts, wings and whole birds.The visual quality attributes of each product in the range were examined and discussed openly and impartially.

CASE STUDY

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CAMPDEN BRI Campden BRI is the UK's largest independent

www.campdenbri.co.uk

membership based organisation carrying out research and development for the food and drinks industry worldwide.

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MEAT COLOUR & QUALITYWhether justified or not, consumers associate the colour of meat and poultry with the perception of quality and freshness. Additionally, there are major quality defects that can be highlighted by variations in colour.

These include those caused by extreme changes in pH/temperature such as Pale Soft Exudative (PSE) meat and Dark Firm Dry (DFD) meat, both of which lessen consumer acceptability, reduce yield, increase the potential for spoilage and reduce shelf life - all with obvious adverse influences upon profitability for the retailer and supply chain.

DEFINITIVE VISUAL STANDARDSOnce the various characteristics were defined, Campden BRI photographed the products using the DigiEye Digital Imaging System.

The DigiEye System has a consistent light source and is totally enclosed allowing products to be imaged free from the detrimental effects of ambient light.

When creating colour and visual quality specifications, consistency is vital. However, many of the visual quality specifications used in the food industry are subjective and can be affected by many variables, including the camera

quality, the photographer, the type and evenness of the illumination, the effect of ambient

light, the viewing angle and the printer quality, which can lead

to inconsistencies.

The set of high resolution images produced by the DigiEye were printed

using a calibrated printer, providing the retailer and its suppliers with a

colour accurate and faithful reproduction of the poultry products’ appearance.

VISUAL QUALITY STANDARDSThis set of colour-accurate images is now being used by the retailer and its suppliers to ensure they maintain high quality standards across their range of poultry products to meet the visual expectations of consumers.

These provide clear, high quality visual specifications which greatly help employees on the production line, particularly those individuals for whom English is not their first language.

CONTROL OF VISUAL QUALITY In addition to providing accurate and reliable photographic standards, DigiEye has applications such as Background Removal, Filters and Workflow, to help producers meet the visual expectations of the consumer.

The piece of steak below, imaged in the DigiEye System, can be measured for colour and quantified for comparison against a pre-agreed standard.

Additionally the amount of visible fat can be ‘Colour Sorted’ and displayed as a percentage of the total area giving an indication of fat content without sample destruction or chemical analysis.

Colorimeter data and the relevant image can be saved, exported or sent electronically anywhere in the world.

Information relating to the production of visual specifications using the DigiEye System has been reproduced with kind permission of Campden BRI. VeriVide would like to confirm the inclusion of Campden BRI in this Case Study does not indicate their endorsement of the DigiEye System. Unless specified, images of poultry and meat contained herein are for illustrative purposes and have not been imaged using the DigiEye System.

Call +44 (0)116 284 7790 or email sales@verivide.com

COOPERATION & CONSENSUS (continued) Tolerance limits for visual quality were established and unanimously agreed as being acceptable or unacceptable.

In most cases, the products were categorized as a ‘PASS’ or ‘FAIL’, but in some cases a third ‘borderline’ category was included for some visual characteristics.

The visual characteristics discussed and categorized included:

Blood Spots

Haemorrhaging

Trimmed fat

Flesh colour

Skin cover

Amount of feathers remaining

Pack presentation