Visual cues, especially color, is regarded the most prominent aspect in food appreciation, since it leads to perception of other related factors, such as taste, odor, and even its overall quality. However, people rarely realize that the selection of lighting also gives a huge impact in object color. In this research, we focused on the impact of various white light properties to the impression of appearance, tastiness, and overall appreciation of eight kinds of fruits and vegetables of four hues – red, orange, yellow, and green. The experimental white test light sources were designed by modifying spectral power distribution intensity across visible light wavelength spectrum so that the desired correlated color temperature, Duv, and color rendering index Ra values could be achieved with the help of QLED Navigator software. Then, observers were brought into a dark room, and rated the fruits and vegetables presented under test light sources inside a Thouslite viewing cabinet, with the inner walls covered in black to block any possible light reflectance from the LED Cube light source.

We made good use of three recent color rendering indices – Color Quality Scale (CQS), IES-TM-30-15 (TM-30), and Memory Color Rendering Index (MCRI) in order to further understand the characteristics of our test light sources. For most cases, CIE Ra and CCT values had stronger impact on subjective perception of fruits and vegetables, however the different features of color rendering measures successfully gave us more insight about the characteristics of light sources. Red and orange colored fresh produce were shown to prefer light sources that put a heavy emphasis on the ability to support more saturation, hence showing higher preferences to light sources with the ability to enhance more chroma and a wider gamut area. In addition, luminance was shown to be another important consideration for appreciation of yellow objects. A unique case occurred in broccoli, as it was the only sample to prefer lightings with positive Duv values, hence giving a hint that the color selection of lighting should also be worth considered.

When comparing the performances of different color rendering measures, it was shown
that preference scale (Qp of CQS) and gamut scale (Rg of TM-30) measures highly
complemented the information that was not available on fidelity-related scales. However, this effect varied depending on the object colors. While red and orange colors benefited from such measures, the same effect was reduced on yellow and green. In the case of comparison between gamut measures, Rg of TM-30 was found to be superior to Qg in general. Meanwhile, the concept of memory color rendering index did not go along with all colors, with only red and orange showing satisfactory results. CRI Ra as a universally recognized color rendering method worked well for yellow samples.

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