Seminar_Penny Perkins-Veazie_2.6.2023.pdf

Color governs our choice of food, our perception of freshness, and what we will pay. Small changes in color, such as darkening, bleaching, or yellowing, can happen from postharvest missteps in handling, packaging, or storage.  Plant pigments confer yellow to red to blue or purple hues and colorless compounds can brighten or alter visual discernment. The increasingly robust evidence of health-positive outcomes from ingesting these color-associated molecules has stimulated interest in tailoring plants to improve human health.  Eating the rainbow may ultimately mitigate disease onset and progression.