Date : 03-04-2023

Experiment : Water in Foods

Conducted by: Group No. 2
Aim : To find the amount of water present in the given sample
Introduction : Finding out the water content in food is essential for the safety and stability of the
product. Two categories can know the water in the sample. 1)Moisture content and
2) Water Activity. Determination of moisture content is done simply by drying the
model and calculating the weight loss. The total amount of water in the sample is the
moisture content of the product. Water Activity (aw) measures unbound (free water
molecules) water. This is available to microorganisms to grow. Since
microorganisms do not grow without a certain level of water activity, it is an
important parameter to measure with regard to food safety. Almost all
microorganisms need 0.6 aw to grow, and some spoilage moulds need 0.7. Thus,
finding aw in the food sample is crucial. The moisture content can be found by the
following formula:
𝐴𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 (𝑖𝑛 𝑔𝑚𝑠)
𝑀𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 = 𝐴𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑟𝑦 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙

The water activity can be derived by the following:

𝑃 𝐸𝑅𝐻
𝑊𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 = 𝑃𝑜
(or) 100

* 𝐸𝑅𝐻 − 𝐸𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑢𝑚 𝑅𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝐻𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑦

In the sensory point of view, most foods with lower aw shows highly crispy nature
and vice versa.
Methods : As per the laboratory manual
Results and Discussion:
Table 1. Measurement noted on different temperatures*

Temperature Vol Temperature Vol. -0.2 Dry Air

(ml) (K) (ml) Vol (ml) PDry Air PH2O
15°C 3.41 3.21
288.15 3.21 1.00 0.00
20°C 3.63 3.43
293.15 3.37 0.98 0.02
25°C 3.70 3.5
298.15 3.38 0.97 0.03
30°C 3.89 3.69
303.15 3.51 0.95 0.05
35°C 4.01 3.81
308.15 3.56 0.94 0.06
 40°C 4.14 3.94
313.15 3.63 0.92 0.08
45°C 4.37 4.17
318.15 3.78 0.91 0.09
50°C 4.44 4.24
323.15 3.78 0.89 0.11
55°C 4.62 4.42
328.15 3.88 0.88 0.12
60°C 4.85 4.65
333.15 4.02 0.86 0.14
62°C 5.02 4.82
335.15 4.14 0.86 0.14
72°C 5.83 5.63
345.15 4.70 0.83 0.17
75°C 6.45 6.25
348.15 5.17 0.83 0.17
80°C 6.91 6.71
353.15 5.47 0.82 0.18

*The volumes have been noted at different temperatures while the experiment was conducted. The
chart below is a graphical representation of the table and the readings.
Table 2. Literature values*

Temp. °C PH2O

0 0.006

10 0.012

20 0.023
 30 0.042

40 0.073

50 0.122

60 0.197

70 0.308

80 0.467

*The values have been given to be compared with data received in the experiment.
Table 3. Measurements of the sample given
Sample +
Dry sample TARE @ aw g H2O per 100g
aw Label TARE (g) (g) (g) g H2O dry sample
0 0
0.113 1A 1.6157 2.28707 4.133 0.230 10.067
0.113 1B 1.65446 2.28424 4.14 0.201 8.813
0.113 1C 1.65322 2.27678 4.053 0.123 5.402
0.225 2A 1.67831 2.09259 3.973 0.202 9.658
0.225 2B 1.61714 2.10425 3.943 0.222 10.532
0.225 2C 1.64202 2.19989 4.075 0.233 10.596
0.328 3A 1.69422 2.0188 3.908 0.195 9.658
0.328 3B 1.60265 2.00013 3.841 0.238 11.910
0.328 3C 1.63662 2.22495 4.045 0.183 8.244
0.432 4A 1.61425 2.06807 3.88 0.198 9.559
0.432 4B 1.08261 2.13037 3.43 0.217 10.187
 0.432 4C 1.06466 2.03784 3.289 0.187 9.152
0.529 5A 1.07981 2.09319 3.375 0.202 9.650
0.529 5B 1.07541 2.13279 3.412 0.204 9.556
0.529 5C 1.61717 2.13933 3.954 0.198 9.232
0.753 6A 1.0662 2.15336 5.871 2.651 123.130
0.753 6B 1.0655 2.1405 5.826 2.620 122.401
0.753 6C 1.08072 2.15335 5.258 2.024 93.990
0.843 7A 1.06892 2.11492 3.723 0.539 25.493
0.843 7B 1.0642 2.27785 3.576 0.234 10.271
0.843 7C 1.08146 2.31627 3.695 0.297 12.834

Conclusion : Based on the results, it can be concluded that the sample has low Water
Pressure even at high temperatures. In this case, the sample has high resistance to
microbial spoilage.
Reference :
● Ift.org. 2009. Measuring Moisture Content & Water Activity. [Online].
Available:https://www.ift.org/news-and-publications/food-technology-magazine/issu
es/2009/november/columns/laboratory. [5 April 2023].
Prelab