2.7. Color measurementTo determine whether the effects of treatments had any negative effects on the appearance of chicken breasts, instrumentalcolor analysis was conducted. The Hunter L* (lightness), a*(redness-greenness), and b* (yellowness-blueness) values weremeasured using a color meter (ColorTec PCM, Clinton, NJ). The netcolor difference (DE) was calculated with the equation:DE ¼ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiL*2 L*12þ a*2 a*12 þb*2 b*12r(4)where the subscripts 1 and 2 are referred to as color componentsbefore and after treatment, respectively