Measuring the colour of virgin olive oils in a new colour scale using a low-cost portable electronic device

► We propose a new scale for colour specification of virgin olive oils named MUOCS. ► MUOCS was proposed on the basis of a wide dataset of 1700 virgin olive oils. ► MUOCS improved previous Bromthymol Blue (BTB) scale in more than a factor 2. ► A low-cost electronic device measuring MUOCS and BTB colours was designed. ► This device is portable and may avoid the use of expensive colour instrumentation.