ABSTRACT
The comprehensive coverage of the importance of product color for total quality management requires the determination of consumer preferences for product color, because external characteristics, like color, are used by the consumer as indicators for internal characteristics. Methodological work is necessary for the color measurement and studies to establish correlations between color and essential compounds. Then non-destructive measurements, e. g. color determination, can be introduced to the process of production, processing and distribution, to determine internal quality characteristics as a continuous and rapid tool for quality control within quality management systems. In a further step the improvement of product quality is possible before and after harvest, where the color characteristic of the product serves as an indicator of product quality. For these investigations radish was used as example.
