Moisture and Total Solids Analysis of Food
Moisture assays can be one of the most important analyses performed on a food product and yet one of the most difficult from which to obtain accurate and precise data. This chapter describes various methods for moisture analysis – their principles, procedures, applications, cautions, advantages, and disadvantages. Water activity measurement also is described, since it parallels the measurement of total moisture as an important stability and quality factor. With an understanding of techniques described, one can apply appropriate moisture analyses to a wide variety of food products.
Importance of Moisture Assay:
One of the most fundamental and important analytical procedures that can be performed on a food product is an assay for the amount of moisture (1–3). The dry matter that remains after moisture removal is commonly referred to as total solids. This analytical value is of great economic importance to a food manufacturer because water is an inexpensive filler. The following listing gives some examples in which moisture content is important to the food processor.
- Moisture is a quality factor in the preservation of some products and affects stability in
- Dehydrated vegetables and fruits
- Dried milks
- Powdered eggs
- Dehydrated potatoes
- Spices and herbs
- Moisture is used as a quality factor for
- Jams and jellies to prevent sugar crystallization
- Sugar syrups
- Prepared cereals – conventional, 4–8%; puffed, 7–8%
- Reduced moisture is used for convenience in packaging or shipping of
- Concentrated milks
- Liquid cane sugar (67% solids) and liquid corn sweetener (80% solids)
- Dehydrated products (these are difficult to package if too high in moisture)
- Concentrated fruit juices
- Moisture (or solids) content is often specified in compositional standards (i.e., Standards of Identity)
- Cheddar cheese must be ≤39% moisture.
- Enriched flour must be ≤15% moisture.
- Pineapple juice must have soluble solids of ≥10.5˚Brix (conditions specified).
- Glucose syrup must have ≥70% total solids.
- The percentage of added water in processed meats is commonly specified
- Computations of the nutritional value of foods require that you know the moisture content
- Moisture data are used to express results of other analytical determinations on a uniform basis [i.e., dry weight basis (dwb), rather than wet weight basis (wwb)].
Moisture Content of Foods:
The moisture content of foods varies greatly as shown in Table 6-1 (4). Water is a major constituent of most food products. The approximate, expected moisture content of a food can affect the choice of the method of measurement. It can also guide the analyst in determining the practical level of accuracy required when measuring moisture content, relative to other food constituents.
Forms of Water in Foods:
The ease of water removal from foods depends on how it exists in the food product. The three states of water in food products are:
- Free water: This water retains its physical properties and thus acts as the dispersing agent for colloids and the solvent for salts
- Adsorbed water: This water is held tightly or is occluded in cell walls or protoplasm and is held tightly to proteins
- Water of hydration: This water is bound chemically, for example, lactose monohydrate; also some salts such as Na2SO4 · 10H2O.
Depending on the form of the water present in a food, the method used for determining moisture may measure more or less of the moisture present. This is the reason for official methods with stated procedures (5–7). However, several official methods may exist for a particular product. For example, the AOAC International methods for cheese include: Method 926.08, vacuum oven; 48.12, forced draft oven; 977.11, microwave oven; 969.19, distillation (5). Usually, the first method listed by AOAC International is preferred over others in any section.
Sample Collection and Handling:
General procedures for sampling, sample handling and storage, and sample preparation are perhaps the greatest potential source of error in any analysis. Precautions must be taken to minimize inadvertent moisture losses or gains that occur during these steps.
Obviously, any exposure of a sample to the open atmosphere should be as short as possible. Any heating of a sample by friction during grinding should be minimized. Headspace in the sample storage container should be minimal because moisture is lost from the sample to equilibrate the container environment against the sample. It is critical to control temperature fluctuations since moisture will migrate in a sample to the colder part. To control this potential error, remove the entire sample from the container, reblend quickly, and then remove a test portion.
To illustrate the need for optimum efficiency and speed in weighing samples for analysis, using shredded Cheddar cheese (2–3 g in a 5.5-cm aluminium foil pan), that moisture loss within an analytical balance was a straight-line function. The rate of loss was related to the relative humidity. At 50% relative humidity, it required only 5 s to lose 0.01% moisture. This time doubled at 70% humidity or 0.01% moisture loss in 10 s. While one might expect a curvilinear loss, the moisture loss was actually linear over a 5-min study interval. These data demonstrate the necessity of absolute control during collection of samples through weighing, before drying.
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