FOOD3002 Practical: Water in Foods

Water has several physico-chemical properties that determine its behaviour in foods, including its
polarity, ability to form hydrogen bonds, as well as its high melting point, boiling point and heat
capacity (compared to other solvents).

Water is one of the most important constituents of foods, but it is also one of the most overlooked.
Water is naturally present in foods and has a great impact on their quality. It also contributes
substantially to the weight of a food product, which has great implications for the costs and logistics
of transport.

Removing moisture is a long-practised method of preserving foods as it reduces the ability of

microorganisms to flourish and spoil a product. In the Exercises described in this practical class you
will gain experience in methods used to analyse water and its role in the storage and quality of foods.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this class and after answering the Study Questions in the Quiz you should be able to
describe:

• Moisture content and how it is measured

• The difference between fresh weight and dry weight

• Water activity (aw) and how it is measured

• The difference between moisture content and aw

• Factors that influence the availability of water in foods

• A moisture sorption isotherm and how it relates moisture content to aw

• The different physical states of water and how they affect food quality

• Why some foods become dry when stale (e.g., bread) and some foods become moister
when stale (e.g., a dry cracker).

Methods of measuring water content

The moisture content (or water content) of a food or its components can provide information on
several important food properties. These include suitable methods of storage, perishability, flow
properties, solids content, as well as the concentration of soluble food constituents (such as proteins
and sugars). Moisture content is also very important for accurate determination of nutritional content
and labelling. Gravimetric, chemical and spectroscopic methods can be used to measure moisture
content.

Gravimetric methods: These methods determine the weight fraction of water; i.e., the contribution of
water to the total weight of the sample. Drying methods are the oldest forms of moisture analysis
and, for many foods, they are the reference methods. The water content can be measured by
comparing weights before and after drying. The sample must come to a constant weight after the
drying process for the moisture analysis to be valid.

Samples can be dried in a convection, infrared (IR), vacuum or microwave oven. One of the major
limitations of gravimetric methods is that the protocol has to be adhered to strictly. This is because
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particle size and mass of the sample used can alter the amount of moisture lost by drying for a set
time and at a set temperature.

The advantage of gravimetric moisture determination is that a large number of samples can be
analysed at the same time and it does not require expensive equipment (if using a convection or
microwave oven). The gravimetric methods all use the same principle of measuring the weight
difference before and after drying—it is only the method of drying that is different.

Chemical methods: The main method for the chemical determination of water in foods is the Karl
Fischer titration. This method is based on the oxidation of sulfur dioxide (SO2) by iodine (I2) in a
methanolic hydroxide solution. While the titration is specific for water, it can only be used for samples
where all the water can be extracted into the methanol solution. Thus, the method is suitable only
for samples containing very low levels of moisture.

Spectroscopic methods: These are indirect methods that can also be used to measure other
constituents in foods such as lipids and protein. Spectroscopic methods include nuclear magnetic
resonance (NMR) and near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy. These methods are very quick and non-
destructive; however, the instruments can be expensive and need to be calibrated to provide
accurate measurements.

The difference between fresh and dry weight

When expressing the amount of a macronutrient (e.g., starch), micronutrient (e.g., a vitamin), or even
a pesticide or antibiotic, in a food or ingredient, it is imperative that the result is accurate and
reproducible.

As it can be difficult to control the moisture content of a food at the time of analysis, it is more reliable
to express results related to the dry weight of the food. Fresh weight analyses provide information
about the concentration of an analyte relative to other constituents in the material, whereas dry
weight analyses allow you to compare amounts of an analyte in different materials, especially those
that may have quite different moisture contents.

Relating the content of an analyte to the dry weight also makes it possible to compare nutrient levels
and other parameters between foods made from products grown in different geographic regions and
under different conditions (e.g., grains grown under irrigation or under dryland conditions).
Furthermore, each food product has a specific moisture content that is safe for storage; for maize
this is 12.5%, while for oilseeds (such as mustard) it is 7.5%. These are moisture content targets
that a grain storage facility would aim to meet for safe storage.

Please work in pairs through all Exercises in this practical class.

Exercise 1: Moisture content of foods

The moisture content of various foods will be determined according to the American Association of
Cereal Chemists (AACC) Method 44-19 with a minor modification. For most foods, an accurate
moisture content analysis depends on grinding the foods as finely as possible; however, as we are
using a variety of materials in this exercise, we will analyse the moisture in the foods without grinding.

Choose three of the foods offered for analysis. For each food, pre-weigh a paper muffin liner. Then
weigh around 1.0 g of the food onto the muffin liner. Record the weight of the liner + food. Place the
liner + food on an oven tray. Dry the samples at 135°C for 2 h. Remove the liner + food from the
oven and place in a desiccator to cool. When the food has cooled, weigh the liner with the food.

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Calculate the moisture content of the food as follows:

% moisture = [mass of moisture lost (g)/ initial mass of food (g)] x 100

Water activity

While the moisture content can give you vital information about a food or its ingredients, it does not
tell you about the chemical activity of the water. Water activity, aw, is the term used to describe the
chemical potential of water in a food. Water activity represents the energy status of the water in the
system and is calculated using the following equation:

aw = P/Po = ERH (%) / 100

where:

P = vapour pressure of the water over a sample at a specified temperature

Po = vapour pressure of pure water at the same temperature

ERH = equilibrium relative humidity

Water activity values range from 0.0 (no water in the sample) to 1.0 (pure water). The addition of
humectants, such as salts and sugars, reduces the activity of water compared to pure water. As aw
increases, water becomes more mobile and has a greater influence over molecular mobility as well
as chemical and enzymatic reaction rates.

Water activity is the best indicator of the potential for microbial growth as microbes have a limiting
aw below which they cannot grow. Most pathogenic bacteria (e.g., Clostridium, Pseudomonas,
Salmonella and E. coli) grow at aw of ≥0.9, while the spoilage moulds (e.g., Penicillium and
Aspergillus) can grow at aw of ≥ 0.7. An aw of 0.6 represents the limit below which microbial growth
cannot occur.

The aw of a food also affects its textural properties. Foods with a high aw are usually described as
moist and juicy, while those with a low aw are usually described as being hard or dry. A dry food will
lose its crispiness once the aw is > 0.4, whereas a juicy product will become noticeably drier (and
harder) once the aw < 0.5–0.6.

Methods of measuring water activity

There are two instruments capable of measuring aw. The first is a mirror dew point meter, which
measures the dew point temperature of the air at the same time as an infrared (IR) thermometer
measures the sample temperature. The dew point is the temperature to which air needs to be cooled
in order to become saturated with water vapour. The relative humidity of the headspace is calculated
as the ratio of the dew point temperature saturation vapour pressure to the saturated vapour
pressure at the sample temperature.

The second instrument is an electric hygrometer, which uses electric circuitry (a capacitance sensor)
to give a signal relative to the ERH. We will be using this second method to measure aw in the
following exercise.

Demonstration: Water activity of foods

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You will be given a demonstration of how the aw of real food products is measured using a water
activity meter (an electric hygrometer). The food products will be the same as those used for the
determination of moisture content. Present the aw and moisture contents for all the food products in
a table for Q1 in the Quiz.

The relationship between moisture content and aw

Initially there may not appear to be a relationship between moisture content and aw. For any given
temperature, however, there is a relationship between these two parameters. Over a range of
temperatures, the resulting graph is called a moisture sorption isotherm, which has a sigmoidal
shape for most foods. Each food has its own moisture isotherm, which needs to be determined
empirically. It is useful to determine a moisture sorption isotherm for a food product as it allows an
analyst to determine the moisture content when aw is known, or vice versa.

Exercise 2: Moisture sorption isotherm

The table below shows data for wheat flour from Bushuk and Winkler (1957) Cereal Chemistry 34,
73–86. Graph the moisture sorption isotherms (one for each temperature; both on the same graph)
and discuss them for Q2 in the Quiz. You should be able to note a difference between the aw and
moisture content for the samples stored at different temperatures.

20°C 50°C

aw Moisture (g/100 g) aw Moisture (g/100 g)

0 0.0 0 0.0

0.12 6.9 0.15 5.4

0.23 8.6 0.31 7.4

0.43 10.5 0.47 9.6

0.62 13.9 0.64 12.6

0.76 17.4 0.79 16.3

0.89 25.0 0.90 24.0

The physical status of water

Water can exist in three physical states: solid, liquid and gas. Liquid water may be removed from
foods via a dehydration process to prevent the growth of spoilage organisms. Those foods that do
not dehydrate well may instead be frozen, as freezing temperatures inhibit the growth of pathogens
and impede enzymatic and chemical modifications. Due to the expansion (decreased density) of
water at temperatures below 0°C, foods with high water content (e.g., some fruits and vegetables)
are not suitable for freezing.

Water can also become a gas when a foodstuff is heated, particularly above the boiling point of
water. This water escapes from the food as steam and, if left long enough, all the water would be
removed from the food. As the water is removed, it concentrates the flavour-forming molecules

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(compare the more concentrated flavour of a dried fruit compared to that of the fresh fruit). Gaseous
water can also be used to manufacture products such as popcorn.

Exercise 3: Solid water

A measuring cylinder containing 50 mL of water has been kept in a freezer to produce ice. For Q3
in the Quiz, give the volume of the ice in the cylinder, calculate the percentage increase in volume,
and discuss the implications of the difference in density between liquid and solid water for freezing
and thawing foods.

Exercise 4: Gaseous water

Be very careful handling hot flasks and working around the frying pan! If you burn yourself,
run cold water over your skin immediately for several minutes and tell a Demonstrator.

Pre-heat a frying pan or skillet. You will be given untreated popping corn, oven-dried popping corn
and water-soaked popping corn. Weigh 10 kernels of the untreated popping corn and then add the
kernels to the hot frying pan or skillet and put the lid on. Heat the kernels for 5 min. Count the number
of popped kernels (popping rate) and weigh the 10 kernels again. Determine their volume by placing
the popcorn in a 100-mL measuring cylinder, adding a known volume of sand (e.g., 50 mL), and
measuring the increase in volume due to the popcorn; i.e., the volume of (popcorn + sand) – (original
volume of sand).

Repeat this experiment on the oven-dried popping corn and the water-soaked popping corn. For Q4
in the Quiz, present your data on the popping rate and volume and note any differences between
the treatments. For Q5 in the Quiz, relate your results to the moisture content of the kernels and
describe the role that water plays in producing popcorn.

Assessment (6%)
Assessment for Water in Foods consists of the following:
• Answers to the Quiz written individually (12 Study Questions). Do the Quiz on Canvas
(6%). Some of the questions are on the practical class. Other questions are on water in foods
more generally and include some calculation questions.

Assessments will be checked for plagiarism using Turnitin via Canvas.

Deadline for submission of the Water in Foods Quiz:

Odd Group: Thur 02 March 2022
Even Group: Thur 09 March 2022

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