Carrageenans are edible powders extracted from seaweeds. They are widely used in the food manufacturing industry especially in the dairy, processed meat and beverage industry. In the dairy products and beverage industry, they are used as stabilizers and emulsifiers while in the processed meat industry they are used as texturizers and water absorbers.
Because of the wide use of carrageenans color control of the product is required by its users, since they contribute to the overall aesthetic value of the products that they will be producing. As such carrageenan manufacturers are required to maintain a certain color range for their products before they ship it out to their customers. Color control is done by using the CR-410 wherein the products are placed inside the Granular Materials Attachment using D65 as the light source. Carrageenans are predominantly white in color which is why only the L* values are used when they do color control. Instead of using delta E as a basis for color control, they simply based it on the L* range which they established. The L* range varies depending where the carrageenan will be used and the preference of each customer. For meat application the common L* range is 84 to 88. In the case of dairy products like milk, cheese and yoghurt the L* range is 90 to 96. The same L*range is used in beverages application.
Color control in carrageenans gives us great opportunities since most of its manufacturers are using the CR-410 as the instrument of choice. And the values they are required to maintain are based on its measurement.