AbstractColour of orange juice is provided by carotenoids, which belong to one of the main classes of natural pigments, although the colour of particular orange varieties, blood oranges, is mainly due to anthocyanins. Colour of food influences consumers' preferences. For orange juices, some studies have revealed that the colour of citrus beverages in general is related to the consumer's perception of the quality of these products. The USA attaches great importance to the objective evaluation of orange juice colour, to the point that this attribute is evaluated for the commercial classification of the product on the basis of its quality. Apart from the importance of orange juice colour in relation to the quality of the product, it is important to accurately measure this parameter since it has been demonstrated that colour measurements can be used to estimate the carotenoid content rapidly for quality control purposes. Owing to this factors, several techniques and instruments have been developed over the years. This review assesses these methods and the results gained from them. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry