When Pepperidge Farm installed Minolta Corp's. BC-10 Baking Contrast Meters, judging the color of baked goods became a cinch. According to Mike Davis, bakery technologist at Pepperidge Farm, evaluating color by eye isn't as easy as many home bakers might think, in fact, he said it was a big challenge. Visual color judgments, Davis explains, are affected by factors ranging from plant lighting conditions, the angle of observation and individual perceptions. Before the bakery starting using the meter, workers would judge "acceptable color" by comparison with a color photograph of the baked product. Although the photos were taken carefully, with special lighting conditions, Davis says evaluating the actual product was problematic. Fatigue, personal preference, individual variance in color vision and even a person's age may affect color judgment. "Until we learned about the Minolta BC-10 instrument we were unable to find an accurate, economical color reader for baked products," Davis notes.