An innovative method for measuring food quality: Using a color measurement smartphone application

Color measurements of foods can be made with many techniques, both sensory and instrumental. With the developing technology, fast and low-cost innovative techniques are getting more attention. In this study, color analysis made through smart phone application compared with the coloriometric method. In this context, the color differences of chocolates with various cocoa solids ratios were calculated. Taking advantage of the accessibility and user friendliness of smartphones, images were taken from the sample surface in a regular illuminated home/office environment. Photos taken from the phone gallery were measured with the Color Grab (Loomatix) application. Correlations of L*a*b* color values obtained in CIE Lab space system were calculated. These values were also used to calculate the Total Color Change (ΔE) and Whiteness Index (WI). As a result, it has been observed that the color of chocolate, which is considered as a food sample in the study, can be measured with a smart phone application, which is a faster and less costly method. It is predicted that smart phone application can be used as a very practical tool in the measurement of food quality due to its updateability, ability to storage and shareability of measurement information on smartphones.