SAUCES

Sauces and condiments are created to enhance a food items aroma, taste, texture and appearance. Sauces are usually processed with a number of ingredients to achieve the perfect taste and colour. There is an extensive range of sauces and condiments that exist today, each produced differently depending on the producers unique recipe. Sauces like marinades, dressings, mustard, tomato sauce, mayonnaise and other spiced sauces need to meet the the standards consumers expect. Each company also wants to ensure that their sauce appears unique to them so that consumers can recognize their favourite brand simply by looking at the sauce.

Consumers are always looking at the consistency and reliability of their purchases, this is especially true for sauces and condiments. As sauces are mostly processed from an extensive range of natural ingredients, spices and additives changes to the appearance can easily occur. Changes to a sauces’ colour usually occurs due to a change in raw material or a change during the manufacturing process.  Due to the complexity of manufacturing a sauce there are numerous challenges that are faced by food processors in creating sauces that meet the high quality standards consumers expect. All challenges that occur during this process can be solved with effective colour management.

Sauce producers use colour measurement instruments to measure the colour of incoming raw materials like tomatoes and spices to ensure that they are receiving goods that are the same colour and match the colour of previous deliveries. Colour should also be measured during the entire production process to ensure that consumers receive goods that always appear the same. Colour measurement can also be used to identify adulteration and contamination to ensure that companies are receiving genuine high-quality products.

Colour measurment can assist sauce producers in the following ways:

• Measure the colour of incoming raw materials like Tomatoes, Spices and Colourants
• Measure the colour of a sauce during the production process
• Sort products into batches based on colour
• Identify ingredient adulteration and contamination
• Improve quality control and management
• Save time and money by producing goods that consistently meet quality checks.