Perceived lighting quality of LED sources for the presentation of fruit and vegetables

The CIE Color Rendering Index (CRI) is the most widely-used measure of quantifying and comparing the color rendering properties of light sources. There is however today a debate concerning the limitations of this index for sources such as LEDs. In this paper we present a new approach to quantifying the visual color quality of light sources. We investigated the color rendering of fruit and vegetables in terms of attractiveness, naturalness and suitability. Perceptions of 40 observers were assessed for different mixings of LEDs, in comparison with standard light sources. Perceived quality and links between existing metrics, in particular the CRI, were studied. The results allowed us to put forward recommendations for future methods of color rendering assessment.