LWT - Food Science and Technology 112 (2019) 108257

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LWT - Food Science and Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/lwt

Food component influence on water activity of low-moisture powders at T

elevated temperatures in connection with pathogen control
Yuqiao Jin, Juming Tang∗, Shyam S. Sablani
Washington State University, Department of Biological Systems Engineering, P.O Box 646120, Pullman, WA, 99164-6120, USA

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Recent research has shown exponentially increased thermal resistance of pathogenic bacteria at a reduced water
Food safety activity (aw) in thermal treatments. However, information on aw change as affected by food components at high
Low-moisture food temperatures is limited. The objective of this project was to quantify the influence of major food components on
Clausius-clapeyron equation aw changes in low-moisture foods at elevated temperatures. Corn starch, soy protein, coconut, and cheddar
cheese powders were selected as high-carbohydrate, high-protein, high-fat, and intermediate products. Vacuum
dried powders were equilibrated in the jars containing saturated salt solutions to different aw from 0.11 to 0.84
at 25 °C. The aw of food powders were measured from 25 to 80 °C in hermetically sealed test cells using hight-
temperature humidity sensors. For a given initial aw, high-carbohydrate product had more considerable aw
increase than high-protein, intermediate, and high-fat foods with increasing temperature. The net isosteric heat
of sorption increased from high-fat, intermediate, high-protein, to high-carbohydrate food at same moisture
content. These relationships support findings in the literature that bacterial cells are more easily inactivated in
high-carbohydrate and high-protein products than in high-fat foods. Understanding the correlation between food
components and aw change at elevated temperatures helps predict the thermal resistance of bacteria in low-
moisture foods.

1. Introduction room temperature, and local microenvironment in foods were factors

Water activity (aw) is defined as the ratio of the water vapor pres-
sure of a food system to the saturated water vapor pressure at a given
temperature (Loncin, 1988; Scott, 1953; Syamaladevi, Tadapaneni,
et al., 2016). Measurement of aw is based on the thermodynamic
equilibrium state of water in the system (Loncin, 1988; Reid, 2007;
Scott, 1953). The aw is an important parameter in controlling the
growth of microorganisms in foods (Leistner, 1992; Scott, 1953). Ty-
pically, aw below 0.83 is considered as the lowest aw for pathogenic
bacteria growth (Hass & Herman, 1978; Sperber, 1983). However, some
pathogenic bacteria can still exist and survive for years in low-aw foods.
There have been reports on the outbreak of pathogenic bacteria in low-
aw foods - such as peanut butter, rice, and wheat cereals - causing severe
illnesses or even deaths in the United States (Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2015, 2016).
The safety of low-aw foods is a concern for both the food industry
and scientific community (Albright, Kendall, Avens, & Sofos, 2003;
Carrasco, Morales-Rueda, & García-Gimeno, 2012; Krapf & Gantenbein-
Demarchi, 2010; Lzurieta & Komitopoulou, 2012). Previous studies
have shown that food component, treatment temperature, initial aw at
affecting the thermal resistance of microorganisms (Jin et al., 2018; Li
et al., 2014; Smith, Hildebrandt, Casulli, Dolan, & Marks, 2016; Taylor,
Tsai, Rasco, Tang, & Zhu, 2018; Villa-Rojas et al., 2013). Rachon,
Penaloza, and Gibbs (2016) reported that Salmonella had higher
thermal resistance in a high-protein meat powder than in a high-car-
bohydrate confectionary product. Jin et al. (2018) reported that the D-
values of Salmonella were higher in the high-fat food matrix than in the
high-protein matrix that had been equilibrated at the same initial aw at
room temperature. However, the influence of food component on the
thermal resistance of bacteria is still not fully understood. The aw of
food at treatment temperatures, in particular, aw changes from room
temperature to treatment temperatures as influenced by food compo-
nents, were seldom taken into consideration when evaluating the
thermal inactivation of bacteria in those studies.
Different food products showed different aw change when heated to
elevated temperatures during thermal treatments. For example, in an
early study, we found that in a closed container carbohydrate-rich
wheat flour increased its aw from initial 0.45 to 0.80 as temperature
increased from 20 to 80 °C, while fat-rich peanut butter decreased its aw
from 0.45 to 0.04 under the same temperature change (Syamaladevi,

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: jtang@wsu.edu (J. Tang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2019.108257
Received 26 April 2019; Received in revised form 8 June 2019; Accepted 10 June 2019
Available online 11 June 2019
0023-6438/ © 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Y. Jin, et al.
Tadapaneni, et al., 2016). We hypothesized that, because of the small
bacterial cell size, moisture diffusion between vegetative bacteria and
their micro-environment within food matrices allowed those cells to
rapidly adjust their moisture content in response to aw change in the
food during a thermal treatment (Syamaladevi, Tang, & Zhong, 2016).
Thus, the influence of food components on thermal resiatnce of bac-
teria, in particular vegetatives cells, in low-moisture foods is dictated
mainly by how those components influence the water activity of the
overall food matrices at the treatment temperatures. Consequently, we
considered the aw of a food at treatment temperatures, rather than at
room temperature, as a key factor influencing the thermal inactivation
of bacteria (Liu, Tang, Tadapeneni, Yang, & Zhu, 2018; Tadapaneni, Xu,
Yang, & Tang, 2018; Xu et al., 2019). For example, Xu et al. (2019)
reported that when wheat flour at aw 0.45 at 20 °C was heated to 80 °C,
its aw increased to 0.68, and the corresponding D-value of Salmonella
Enteritidis PT 30 was determined to be 4.9 min. But when almond flour
at aw 0.45 at 20 °C was also heated to 80 °C, its aw became 0.54, and the
corresponding D-value was 21.2min, more than four times as much as
in wheat flour. The significant difference in D-value for the same bac-
terium in two different flours preconditioned to the same aw at 20 °C
was attributed to the 0.14 aw difference at 80 °C (Xu et al., 2019). Liu
et al. (2018) established a log-linear relationship between the D-values
of both Salmonella Enteritidis PT 30 and Enterococcus faecium and the aw
of wheat flour and silicon dioxide at elevated temperatures. Such a
relationship was further confirmed for Salmonella Enteritidis PT 30 in
almond flour and wheat flours using two different test methods (Xu
et al., 2019). Thus, it is critical to quantify aw changes in different food
products at elevated temperatures as a first step for developing effective
thermal treatments for low-aw foods, when the food is treated in a
closed system.
Tadapaneni, Yang, Carter, and Tang (2017) utilized a specially de-
signed high-temperature cell to study the aw change in different food
products at elevated temperatures. The high-temperature cell consisted
of an aluminum cup and lid with a capacitance-based relative humidity
and temperature sensor (Honeywell HumidIcon™, Morristown, NJ)
(Tadapaneni et al., 2017). It was proven to be a reliable tool for mea-
suring the aw of food samples at high temperatures (Tadapaneni et al.,
2017). Tadapaneni et al. (2017) reported that the shift of aw at high
temperatures was highly dependent on food components, and the aw of
food products with hydrophilic macromolecules increased with in-
creasing temperature. However, data on aw shift at high temperatures
in different food products in the literature is limited. .Thus, it ise ne-
cessary to further research to quantify the influence of food component
on the aw change at elevated temperatures.
The change of aw with temperature in a given food product can be
described by the Clausius-Clapeyron equation (Labuza, 1968; Labuza,
Kaanane, & Chen, 1985) (see Eq. (1) below). The net isosteric heat of
sorption (qst) is an important parameter in the Clausius-Clapeyron
equation and is unique for each food product at a specific moisture
content (Xw) (Eq. (2)). The qst equals to the total enthalpy change for the
sorption process minus the specific latent heat of vaporization (Labuza
et al., 1985; Tadapaneni et al., 2017). It is a thermodynamic property in
evaluating the energy requirement of dehydration (Labuza et al., 1985;
Tadapaneni et al., 2017). Generally, the qst value was inversely related
to the Xw of a food product. For example, qst decreased from 15.2 to
0 kJ/mol as Xw increased from 0.022 to 0.100 g H2O/g dry solids in
almond flour (Tadapaneni et al., 2017). Also, food components can
affect the qst value. For example, the carbohydrate-rich wheat flour had
higher qst than protein-rich non-fat milk powder and fat-rich almond
flour under the same Xw (Tadapaneni et al., 2017). The qst is an im-
portant parameter which can provide information on understanding the
sorbed moisture status in foods and physiochemical and micro-
biological stability kinetics at specified storage and process settings
(Tadapaneni et al., 2017). However, the mechanism of macro-nutrient
(carbohydrate, protein, fat) influence on the value of qst is seldomly
reported in previous literature. The connection between qst, Xw, and
2
LWT - Food Science and Technology 112 (2019) 108257
macro-nutrient is not very clear. Further evaluation of qst as influenced
by Xw and food components is required.
This research selected corn starch, soy protein, cheddar cheese, and
coconut milk powders, to study the food component influence on the aw
and qst in low-moisture foods at elevated temperatures. Clausius-
Clapeyron equation was utilized to develop predictive models for qst as
influenced by Xw in four food powders.
2. Material and methods
2.1. Food materials
Four food systems were used: corn starch (Great Value™,
Bentonville, AR), soy protein (GNC, Pittsburgh, PA), cheddar cheese
powder (Anthony's, Glendale, CA), and coconut milk powder (Z.
Natural Foods, West Palm Beach, FL). The proximate composition of
food matrices was determined following standard analytical methods
(AOAC, 2012).
2.2. Equilibration of food powders
The equilibration procedures followed Tadapaneni et al. (2017).
Food samples were dried at 25 °C under 10 kPa in a vacuum oven for
approximately seven days to reach the final aw of less than 0.1 at 25 °C.
Dried samples were then conditioned in jars containing saturated salt
solutions for approximately ten days. The saturated salts LiCl,
CH3COOK, MgCl2, K2CO3, MgNO3, NaNO2, NaCl, and KCl were utilized
to generate relative humidities (RH) of 11.3%, 22.5%, 32.8%, 43.2%,
52.9%, 65.8%, 75.3%, and 84.3% at 25 °C, respectively. Toluene solu-
tion in small open containers was placed in the 75.3% and 84.3% jars to
prevent fungal and mold growth in food samples. The aw of the samples
was measured by the aw meter (Aqualab, Meter Group, Inc., Pullman,
WA) at 25 °C to verify that they were equilibrated. The Xw of samples in
the jars with different RH were measured by a halogen moisture ana-
lyzer (Mettler-Toledo, LLC, Columbus, OH) in two replicates.
2.3. Determination of aw at elevated temperatures
The high-temperature cell (METER Group, Inc., Pullman, WA) was
utilized to measure the aw of samples at elevated temperatures. The
commercial test cell was based on the concept presented in
Syamaladevi, Tadapaneni, et al. (2016) and also used in Tadapaneni
et al. (2017). Each conditioned sample was placed into the aluminum
cup, and then the high-temperature cell was sealed to prevent leakage.
The high-temperature cell was immersed in a glycol bath (Isotemp 5150
H11, Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA) at 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, and
80 °C. The RH value at each temperature level was recorded when the
sample reached an equilibrium state with no RH change for a significant
time (approximately 30 min). Two replicates were performed for each
food sample. The aw of the food sample is calculated as RH value/100.
2.4. Clausius-Clapeyron equation
Data was fit into the Clausius-Clapeyron equation (Labuza, 1968):
a q 1 1
ln ⎛ w1 ⎞ = − st ⎛ − ⎞
⎜ ⎟ ⎜ ⎟
⎝ a w2 ⎠ R ⎝ T1 T2 ⎠ (1)
where aw1 and aw2 are the water activity of a food sample with a certain
moisture content at temperatures T1 and T2 (K), R is the universal gas
constant: 8.314 J/(mol*K), qst is the net isosteric heat of sorption (J/
mol) for the food sample.
The net isosteric heat of sorption is different for the food sample at
different moisture content with an empirical relation (Zuo, Rhim, &
Lee, 2015):
q st = a exp(−b Xw ) (2)
Y. Jin, et al. LWT - Food Science and Technology 112 (2019) 108257

Table 1 milk powder. For example, at the same initial aw of 0.12, the Xw were
Proximate composition of food samples in g/100 g dry solids. 0.015, 0.028, 0.045, and 0.089 g H2O/g dry solids, respectively, in
Corn Soy protein Cheddar cheese Coconut milk coconut milk powder, cheddar cheese powder, soy protein, and corn
starch powder powder starch. High-carbohydrate and high-protein foods contained more hy-
drophilic macromolecules than high-fat foods (Foster, Bronlund, &
Ash < 0.1 4.5 12.1 3.1
Paterson, 2005; Labuza, 1977; Labuza & Altunakar, 2007), which ex-
Carbohydrates 98.0 < 0.1 47.6 26.3
Fat 0.9 2.4 18.4 63.8
plained the high Xw in corn starch and soy protein. At high-aw level
Protein 1.0 93.1 21.9 6.8 larger than 0.66, cheddar cheese powder showed higher Xw, for its
strong moisture absorption ability.
The moisture sorption isotherms at 25 °C of corn starch and soy
where a and b are the constants, and Xw is the moisture content g H2O/g protein powder resembled sigmoid-shaped curves. Two bending regions
dry solids. between aw 0.2 to 0.4, and 0.6 to 0.7 were found. The bends could be
Model estimations and statistical analysis in this research were the results of physical and chemical changes in samples during the
performed in Microsoft Excel (16.10, Microsoft, WA, USA). adsorption process (Labuza & Altunakar, 2007). For intermediate
cheddar cheese powder and high-fat coconut milk powder, the moisture
3. Results and discussion sorption isotherms were concaves upward. Moistures were low at low
water activities, and became high after aw 0.6, due to its surface effect
3.1. Proximate composition (moisture gain was low at low aw, the surface of crystalline components
dissolved to absorb more moisture at high aw) (Labuza & Altunakar,
The proximate composition of corn starch, soy protein, cheddar 2007).
cheese powder, and coconut powder is shown in Table 1. The corn
starch samples had 98.0 g carbohydrate/100 g dry solids and could 3.3. aw at elevated temperatures
represent the high-carbohydrate food product. The soy protein con-
tained 93.1g protein/100 g dry solids and was selected as the high- Changes of aw in corn starch of different Xw with temperature are
protein product. The coconut milk powder consisted of 63.8g fat/100 g shown in Fig. 2. The aw increased with increasing temperature at each
dry solids and could be regarded as a high-fat food. The cheddar cheese fixed Xw. For example, at the Xw of 0.110 g H2O/g dry solids, the aw
powder was the intermediate food product with 47.6 g carbohydrates, shifted from 0.23 to 0.43 as temperature increased from 25 to 80 °C.
18.4g fat, and 21.9 g protein per 100 g dry solids. Temperature influence on aw change was more significant in samples
with low and intermediate Xw. For example, the aw of corn starch with
3.2. Moisture content and aw Xw of 0.089g H2O/g dry solids increased from an initial 0.12 to 0.30
when heated from 25 to 80 °C, while the aw of corn starch with Xw of
The relationships between equilibrium aw and Xw of the conditioned 0.215 g H2O/g dry solids increased from an initial 0.84 to 0.93.
samples at 25 °C, commonly referred to as moisture sorption isotherms, Temperature dependent changes in aw for soy protein samples of
are summarized in Fig. 1. The Xw increased with increasing aw in the different Xw are shown in Fig. 3. The aw also increased with increasing
four products. Between the low-aw range of 0.12–0.53, high-carbohy- temperature. Again, aw changed more in low Xw samples. For example,
drate corn starch had the highest Xw, followed by high-protein soy the aw in soy protein samples with Xw of 0.045 g H2O/g dry solids in-
powder, intermediate cheddar cheese powder, and high-fat coconut creased from 0.12 to 0.25 as temperature increased from 25 to 80 °C,

Fig. 1. Relationships between equilibrium aw and Xw (g H2O/g dry solids) of corn starch, soy protein, cheddar cheese powder, and coconut milk powder at 25 °C
(n = 2).

3
Y. Jin, et al.
Fig. 2. The estimated (lines) and experimental (scattered dots) aw values of corn starch at different Xw (g H2O/g dry solids) (n = 2).
while the aw in samples with Xw of 0.214 g H2O/g dry solids increased
from 0.84 to 0.86. Similar trends were also found in cheddar cheese
powder (Fig. 4).
The aw change for coconut milk powder, a high fat product, is
shown in Fig. 5. Very interestingly, the aw in coconut milk powder in-
creased with increasing temperature at Xw only between 0.015 and
0.021 g H2O/g dry solids and became relatively stable at higher Xw
range.
Temperature could affect molecular water mobility and dynamic
equilibrium of vapor and absorbed phases in foods (Kapsalis, 1981;
Labuza, 1970). Previous reports also showed that temperature influence
on aw change is larger at lower to intermediate Xw of a food sample
(Labuza & Altunakar, 2007). Similar phenomena were reported by
Tadapaneni et al. (2017) that the aw in wheat flour, non-fat milk
powder, and almond flour showed less increase at higher Xw.
For a given initial aw at 25 °C, high-carbohydrate corn starch had
more considerable aw increase with increasing temperature than high-
protein soy powder, intermediate cheddar cheese powder, and high-fat
coconut milk powder. For example, at the same initial aw of 0.53 at
25 °C, the aw increased to 0.68, 0.63, 0.58, 0.53 for corn starch, soy
protein, cheddar cheese powder, and coconut milk powder, respec-
tively, when the samples were heated to 80 °C (Figs. 2–5). The increase
in aw is a result of . heat induced breakage of molecular bonds between
water molecules and hydrophilic groups (Foster et al., 2005; Labuza,
1977). As high-carbohydrate corn starch and high-protein soy powder
Fig. 3. The estimated and experimental aw values of soy protein at different Xw (g H2O/g dry solids) (n = 2).
4
LWT - Food Science and Technology 112 (2019) 108257
are composed mostly of hydrophilic macromolecules, it was explainable
that these two products had relatively more aw increase when heated
than intermediate cheddar cheese, and high-fat coconut milk powders.
The level of increase in aw mainly depends on the amount of hydro-
philic groups that exist in food samples (Labuza, 1977; Labuza &
Altunakar, 2007). Carbohydrates usually consist of more hydrogen
bonds per monomer than proteins (Labuza & Altunakar, 2007), so corn
starch had a larger aw change than soy protein as temperature in-
creased. Fats are generally hydrophobic and do not contribute much to
moisture sorption (Labuza & Altunakar, 2007), so coconut cheese
powder had the lowest aw change among the four products.
Recently published research indicated exponentially increased
thermal resistance of bacteria at reduced aw determined at treatment
temperature (Liu et al., 2018; Xu et al., 2019). In Xu et al. (2019), the
aw of food samples was measured at 80 °C, and the zaw-value at 80 °C for
Salmonella Enteritidies PT 30 was 0.32. According to Xu et al. (2019), D-
value at 80 °C could be calculated for any food matrices if the aw at
80 °C was given. For example, at the same initial aw of 0.53 at 25 °C, the
aw of corn starch, soy protein, cheddar cheese powder, and coconut
milk powder were 0.68, 0.63, 0.58, and 0.53 at 80 °C, respectively. The
corresponding D-values for Salmonella Enteritidis PT 30 in corn starch,
soy protein, cheddar cheese powder, and coconut milk powder at 80 °C
were calculated to be 4.74, 6.81, 9.78, and 14.05 min, respectively. As
the aw increased the most in high-carbohydrate corn starch, followed by
high-protein soy powder, intermediate cheddar cheese powder, and
Y. Jin, et al. LWT - Food Science and Technology 112 (2019) 108257

Fig. 4. The estimated and experimental aw values of cheddar cheese powder at different Xw (g H2O/g dry solids) (n = 2).

coconut milk powder in this research, it can be understood that mi-

croorganisms have less thermal resistance in high-carbohydrate and
protein products than in high-fat foods. Thus, the protective effect of
high-fat foods could be caused by the less aw increase at treatment
temperatures in previous studies (Jin et al., 2018; Li et al., 2014; Liu
et al., 2018; Xu et al., 2019).

3.4. Net isosteric heat of sorption

The relationships between qst and Xw of the four food powders are
shown in Fig. 6, and the parameters for Eq. (2) are listed in Table 2. The
value of qst reflects the strength of bonds between water molecules and
food solids, in comparison with that among free water molecules. It is
positively related to the total enthalpy change for the sorption process
(Labuza, 1985; Labuza & Altunakar, 2007; Tadapaneni et al., 2017).
The values of qst obtained in our study were negatively correlated to Xw
in each food product. For example, the qst decreased from 7.9 to 0.5 kJ/ Fig. 6. Net isosteric heat of sorption for corn starch, soy protein, cheddar
mol as Xw increased from 0.045 to 0.214 g H2O/g dry solids in soy cheese powder, and coconut powder.
protein. The qst values were highest at the lowest Xw in the four food
products, indicating the strong attractive forces between water mole- At an identical Xw, the qst was highest in high-carbohydrate corn
cules and food molecules at the monolayer (Abdenouri, Idlimam, & starch, followed by high-protein soy powder, cheddar cheese powder,
Kouhila, 2010; Labuza, 1977; Lim, Tang, & He, 1995). More energy was and high-fat coconut powder (Fig. 6). This trend was consistent with the
required to break the bonds in low-moisture food compared to the same data for equilibrium aw and Xw data, where aw increased from corn
food product with relatively high Xw (Abdenouri et al., 2010; Labuza, starch, soy protein, cheddar cheese powder, to coconut powder at the
1977; Lim et al., 1995).

Fig. 5. The estimated and experimental aw values of coconut powder at different Xw (g H2O/g dry solids) (n = 2).

5
Y. Jin, et al.
Table 2
Fitting parameters for the obtained qst values (KJ/mol) at different Xw (g H2O/g
dry solids).
Fitting equation
Corn starch qst = 85.6 exp (−21 Xw)
Soy protein qst = 31.6 exp (−24 Xw)
Cheddar cheese powder qst = 30.9 exp (−50 Xw)
Coconut milk powder qst = 10826 exp (−443 Xw)
same equilibrium Xw (Fig. 1). Higher aw corresponds to more free water
in the food products. The high-fat coconut milk powder contained more
hydrophobic groups, which reduced the hydrophilic surface area
(Mathlouthi, 2001). Hydrophobic products thus had less water-binding
capacity and contained more free water than hydrophilic foods at the
same Xw. The hydrogen force between free water molecules was lower
than the attractive forces between water and food solids; this explained
the higher qst in high-carbohydrate and high-protein products than the
qst in high-fat food at the same Xw in reaching dynamic equilibrium of
vapor and absorbed phases at elevated temperatures (Fig. 6)
(Abdenouri et al., 2010; Labuza, 1968; Labuza & Altunakar, 2007; Lim
et al., 1995). Similar trends were also reported by Tadapaneni et al.
(2017) that wheat flour had higher qst than non-fat milk powder and
almond flour under the same Xw level.
The information provided in the study can be used in combination
with experimentally determined relationships between thermal re-
sistance of a target bacterium and product aw at elevated temperatures
(e.g. as in Liu et al., 2018 and Xu et al., 2019) to develop thermal
treatments for control of bacterial pathogens in the food powders.
Specifically, given the parameters of a and b (Table 2), the values of qst
within a wide range of Xw can be predicted for each food powder
through Eq. (2). The aw of a food powder at an elevated temperature
can then be estimated by using Eq. (1) based on aw measured at room
temperature. With the calculated aw at the treatment temperature, the
corresponding D-value can be estimated from the established relation-
ship as shown in Liu et al. (2018) and Xu et al. (2019), and process
times can be selected to provide desired log reductions. But it is worth
noting that the above approach is only applicable for heat treatments in
a closed system in which moisture content of the products do not
change. In open systems, on the other hand, the moisture content of the
products may change during the treatment. The relative humidity of the
product environment may play an important role in determining the
thermal resistance of the target bacteria and thus should also be con-
sidered in the process design.
4. Conclusions
This research shows that the aw change at elevated temperatures in
different food products is affected by food components. Based on the
quantitative relationship between aw and thermal resistance of micro-
organisms, bacterial cells could be more easily inactivated in high-
carbohydrate and high-protein products than in high-fat foods in
thermal treatments. Understanding the correlation between food com-
ponents and aw change at elevated temperatures can be a new approach
to estimate the thermal resistance of microorganisms in low-moisture
foods, leading to more effective design of thermal treatments for control
of bacterial pathogens in low moisture foods.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the USDA Agricultural and Food
Research Initiative (AFRI) CAP grant 2015-68003-23415. We ap-
preciate the assistances from Mr. Ren Yang, Dr. Ravi Kiran Tadapaneni,
and Mr. Jaza Maqbl Alshammari. We thank the WSU Engineering Shop
and METER Group, Inc. for providing access to the necessary resources
LWT - Food Science and Technology 112 (2019) 108257
in developing this research.
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