WASHINGTON — Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but color, at least in Florida grapefruit, is what the government says it is.

Grapefruit connoisseurs probably saw it coming, a trend toward a darker pink grapefruit. Now it’s being made official: the feds are deeming that all colored Florida grapefruit, whether its blush be light pink or deep scarlet, be recorded, shipped and marketed as red. Period.

The U.S. Agriculture Department, following the state’s lead, is changing its definition of pigmented Florida grapefruit –grapefruit that isn’t yellow inside — from pink to red. It’s been three weeks since the agency announced its proposal, and there has been no protest, so the change seems a shoe-in when the comment period ends Aug. 29.

State officials say the motivation is twofold:First, Florida growers have turned increasingly to darker strains of pink grapefruit for 30 years, and the practical problems of considering shades of grapefruit for state and federal crop records called for one category.

But there’s a second and more compelling — read profitable — motive: consumer preference.

“The word red is more glamorous than the word pink,” said Richard Kinney, of the Florida Citrus Packers, one of several industry groups backing the change. “It’s a fine line between what’s red and what’s pink …. Red has more appeal.”

State officials agree, citing marketing studies that show consumers like to buy “red” grapefruit, regardless of its actual hue. With heavy competition from strains like the Texas Star Ruby grapefruit, the state is hungry to promote its own as Florida Red, said Kathy Clay, of the Florida Department of Citrus.