Light tube colour

[NB12]

Just changed all the light tubes in a case as the butcher believes the white 840 tubes are discolouring the bacon. So changed to a "butcher" shade (pinky looking). Always have seen the tubes in the butchery serve overs be blue or pink, always thought this was to highlight how red the red meat is. Would have thought the temperature would have had more to do with the condition of the product rather than the shade of the light?.

[Glenn Moore]

Hi NB
Interesting subject, this all goes back to the shopper prefers to see blood red meat , nice pink sausages nice coloured bacon and hams etc . The best way to do this is by running the display cabinet with a low TD between the evap temperature and the air off coil temperature. This keeps the humidity high around the product and keeps the product looking more natural. The problem is most cabinets use a simple ON/Off thermostat often with pump down. Every time the thermostat stops the system the evap temperature goes down , the TD increases and the humidity in the cabinet drops and the product starts to dry out. This is why ham and bacon type products curl at the edges and become discoloured and the butcher then has to throw away several rashers off the top of the pile as the customer doesnt like the look of the dried out meat. On better quality cabinets they use electronic back pressure valves to keep the TD in the cabinets high and therefore the humidity stays high and you get a better looking product.
Another way of getting the product to look better is to play with the colour of the display lighting as the term says (A Trick of the Light ) . By playing with diferent color tubes the meat color tone can be changed to make it more appealing to the customer.
But changing the light color wont improve the quality of the product , that can only be done by running the cabinet at the correct control conditions.