![]() A knowledge of the moisture content is often necessary to predict the behavior of foods during processing, e.g. The texture, taste, appearance and stability of foods depends on the amount of water they contain. For this reason many foods are dried below some critical moisture content. The propensity of microorganisms to grow in foods depends on their water content. ![]() The cost of many foods depends on the amount of water they contain - water is an inexpensive ingredient, and manufacturers often try to incorporate as much as possible in a food, without exceeding some maximum legal requirement. There are legal limits to the maximum or minimum amount of water that must be present in certain types of food. It is important to food scientists for a number of different reasons: Moisture content is one of the most commonly measured properties of food materials. The tripartite (analytical, thermodynamical and structural) approach to water in foods will be examined based on examples of sugars and sugar rich products. A further step in unveiling the behaviour of water in foods consists in determining water molecules in the molecules in the studied food matrix. Such a parameter a w should hold an important place in the identi®cation of the food product, especially as regards its shelf life. This has to be completed with the measurement of the thermodynamic activity of water in the food. Studying water in foods should start with an anlytical determination of water content for commercial and legal reasons which are evident. Of particular importance are the interactions (hydrophilic, hydrophobic) between water and the components of the foodstu and the eect of the soluble molecules of the food on the hydrogen bonding in solvent water. ![]() The understanding of why certain products are more stable than others at the same a w needs an elucidation of water structure. Water activity a w brings a supplement of information as it accounts for the availability of water for degradation reactions. Determination of water content, whatever the accuracy of the analytical method, is not suciently informative in relation to the stability of the investigated food product.
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