Surely none of the owners of grocery stores would be unpleasant to hear from their customer’s complaints about lighting: “Your place is like a basement, or yours is like a barn.”
Therefore, no competent businessman ever saves on the light. Everyone wants to make their store bright and “tasty” so that they want to return to it.
It is well known that people are like moths, always coming into the light. And smart marketers take advantage of this by deliberately creating a spot of light and attracting customers to one place or another in the store.
However, for food departments, in particular the meat department, it is not enough just to create a bright light. This requires the selection of fixtures of a certain spectrum.
Incorrectly illuminated meat does not attract people, but on the contrary, makes them go to other windows or even go to a nearby store. As a result, the goods are stale and thrown away.
Does light spoil meat?
In America, the losses of retail chains due to the early change in the color of meat (although it remains absolutely good) reach 1 billion. $ per year! There have been scientific studies on this (Smith G.K., Belk K.E. 2000 “Economic implications of improving the color stability of beef”.)
At the same time, even bright illumination with ordinary white lamps does not always save.
In Europe, for example, Philips, together with the owners of a number of supermarkets, conducted tests, during which they found that the illumination of meat products with special Led Rose Food lamps not only improves sales, but also extends its shelf life by 20%.
Although the ideal option for storing meat is a place where there is no light at all. This was proven by American scientists during research in 2016.
Any light, even the “correct” one, promotes the growth of microorganisms, and provokes enzymatic activity and the oxidation of fatty acids. Therefore, the less light, the longer the shelf life will be.
However, such an option for stores, as you understand, is not an option at all. With the right light, you emphasize the natural color of the meat, its texture.
The lower the percentage of fat in meat products, the lighter they look. And this is true regardless of the lighting.
