- By Rabia Tiryaki, MsC., Bastak Instruments
With the increase in production in line with the needs of human beings, the food industry has shown great developments and production capacities have reached gigantic proportions. In the process from the production stage to the sales stage, it is important to preserve the physical, sensory, and microbial quality characteristics of foodstuffs and to deliver them to the consumer in a way that does not harm health.
As one of the main components of foodstuffs, water is one of the main parameters controlling the rate of spoilage. Water is one of the main components of foodstuffs; It is present in different proportions and in different forms in foodstuffs of plant and animal origin. Free water contained in foods; is the type of water that is the most abundant in quantity and the most easily distinguishable by the applied process. Adsorbed water is ignited as a thin film layer on the surface of its components or structural molecules. The form of water that cannot be used by biochemical reactions and microorganisms and is connected by H (hydrogen) bonds in a single molecular layer is bound to water. The amount of water in foods is expressed as % moisture, and the amount of moisture expresses the total of free, adsorbed, and bound water in the food.
Moisture content analysis, which is one of the most frequently used basic analyzes in the processing and control of foodstuffs, is an important factor affecting food durability, but moisture amounts for different foodstuffs are limited by standards and regulations. Microorganism activity increases as the moisture content rises above a certain amount. In addition, in case of an increase in humidity in cereals and legumes with low moisture content, undesirable conditions such as mold, heat, sprouting, harmful insects, toxins, etc. are observed. Nonenzymatic (non-enzymatic) browning reactions in foods occur when the amount of water increases.
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