THE RELATIONSHIP OF ILLUMINATION TO THE COLOR AND ACCEPTABILITY OF FERMENTED SAUSAGE

The effects of incandescent (INC), fluorescent (FL), and metal halide (MH) light sources on the acceptance of Genoa salami, summer sausage and Cappola salami were investigated. The color of the Genoa salami was most preferred (P < 0.05) under INC light, as compared to FL and MH. Positive buying response was also significantly higher (P < 0.01) for this light product presented under INC. The major color used to describe the Genoa under INC light was pink, but brown under FL and MH. Relative luminance data, collected with a fiber optic probe connected to a photo diode array, demonstrated the reason to be a low red emission from the FL and MH light sources. The acceptability of the darker summer sausage and Cappola were not as affected by light source as the Genoa salami. The summer sausage was more preferred under INC compared to MH, but not under FL. The Cappola's color preference was not affected by any of the lights.