Implement Grain Color Measurement for Quality Assurance

Grains has now become a major portion of the meal that we take daily. Flour, bread, bakery, almost one portion of our meal is completely made up of grains or its subsequent products. If we take this to a commercial level, we need to understand that there are ample of grain choices to be made, and all these choices are completely dependent on colour measurement. Grain colour measurement has become an important process in manufacturing units. From choosing the right grains to the processing of final products, devices like spectrophotometer and colorimeters helps a lot.

Variation in Grain Colours

There are many natural factors that contribute into influencing the colour of the grains. There is no guarantee that your supplier will give you same colour this year also that he had been giving since years. Growing conditions, fertilisers used kernel characteristics and so on. All these factors collectively make it difficult to analyse the colour visually. If not analysed aptly this might create a visible difference in the final product. Sifting the grain in accordance with their colour is very common practice for getting the right colour of the end product. Based on this, their grades are defined to achieve the consistency in the end products.

As different factors contribute a lot in grain colours, instrumentation colour analysis is becoming very important. Depending upon the industrial requirements and testing standards the samples are segregated.

There are different means used by industries to determine the colour of the samples.

• Visual analysis – This might deliver inconsistent results and no factual report generation.
• Chemical colour analysis – It is a destructive test and considered as hazardous.
• Instrumentation analysis – Quantifies the colour for precise analysis and generates a report.

Colour Measurement Using Spectrophotometer

The advanced models of spectrophotometers are used to analyse the colour of the grains, comparison of the master with the sample, tolerance adjustment, data logging. The colour managers and quality managers can use this analysis to adjudge the best quality. These tools help a lot in achieving colour quality and consistency through the batch and lot. In subsequent products as well. For instance, bread made out of flour, pasta made out of flour should have uniformity in the colour.

Testronix offers a wide range of grain colour measurement solution. Spectrophotometers are ergonomically designed for easy operation. Its portable design makes it perfect to be used in different industries. TP 800 is an advanced model of portable spectrophotometer offered by Testronix. It has a high-resolution touchscreen display and has inbuilt memory. It is the perfect device to compare master with the sample.