Objective color measurement of fresh date fruits and processed date products

Because of significant international trade in date fruits, the need for objective color measurement for maintaining strict quality standards has become obvious. The results on color measurement of specimens of fresh date fruits at four stages of maturity and some processed date products in terms of CIE L*a*b* color coordinate values and hue angle (eta) are presented. The L*, a*, b* and eta values were found to indicate the color of date fruits and processed date products objectively. Measurements utilizing a Macbeth Color Checker spectrophotometer may, therefore, be extremely useful in quantifying the color of date fruits for objective color comparison between different date cultivars and for quality control of processed date products in the international trade.