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    Water Activity

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    JALAJ'S WORLD
    This document describes an experiment to determine the water activity in food samples using a dew-point instrument. [1] The water activity of a food sample is measured by equilibrating the liquid water in the sample with the vapor in a sealed chamber and measuring the relative humidity, which provides the water activity. [2] The procedure involves preparing a homogeneous sample, placing it in a disposable cup, inserting the cup into the instrument chamber, and starting the measurement. [3] The results will provide the water activity values for the tested food samples.

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    Water Activity

    Uploaded by

    JALAJ'S WORLD
    141 views5 pages
    This document describes an experiment to determine the water activity in food samples using a dew-point instrument. [1] The water activity of a food sample is measured by equilibrating the liquid water in the sample with the vapor in a sealed chamber and measuring the relative humidity, which provides the water activity. [2] The procedure involves preparing a homogeneous sample, placing it in a disposable cup, inserting the cup into the instrument chamber, and starting the measurement. [3] The results will provide the water activity values for the tested food samples.

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    This document describes an experiment to determine the water activity in food samples using a dew-point instrument. [1] The water activity of a food sample is measured by equilibrating the liquid water in the sample with the vapor in a sealed chamber and measuring the relative humidity, which provides the water activity. [2] The procedure involves preparing a homogeneous sample, placing it in a disposable cup, inserting the cup into the instrument chamber, and starting the measurement. [3] The results will provide the water activity values for the tested food samples.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    141 views5 pages

    Water Activity

    Uploaded by

    JALAJ'S WORLD
    This document describes an experiment to determine the water activity in food samples using a dew-point instrument. [1] The water activity of a food sample is measured by equilibrating the liquid water in the sample with the vapor in a sealed chamber and measuring the relative humidity, which provides the water activity. [2] The procedure involves preparing a homogeneous sample, placing it in a disposable cup, inserting the cup into the instrument chamber, and starting the measurement. [3] The results will provide the water activity values for the tested food samples.

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    EXPERIMENT- 1

    Determination of water activity in food samples using dew-point instrument


    1.0 Introduction
    Water activity is a measure of the energy status of the water in a system (or
    the degree to which the water is bound) and hence of its availability to act as
    solvent and participate in chemical or biochemical reactions and growth of
    microorganisms. It is an important property that can be used to predict the
    stability and safety of food with respect to microbial growth, rates of
    deteriorative reactions and chemical or physical properties.
    1.1 Principle
    Water activity of a product is determined using chilled mirror dew-point
    water activity meter. Dew-point is a primary measurement of vapor pressure
    that has been in use for decades. In a dew-point instrument water activity is
    measured by equilibrating the liquid phase water in the food sample with
    the vapor-phase water in the headspace, and then measuring the vapor
    pressure of the head space. The basic principle involved in dew-point
    determination of vapor pressure in air is that air may be cooled without
    change in water content until it saturates. The dew-point temperature is the
    temperature at which air reaches saturation. It is determined in practice by
    measuring the temperature of chilled mirror when condensation starts.
    Water activity of the sample is the ratio of the saturation vapor pressure at
    dew-point temperature to the saturation vapor pressure at the sample
    temperature.
    1.2 Requirements
    Sample
    Dew-point water activity instrument (e.g., AquaLab Series 3, Decagon
    Devices)
    Disposable sample cups
    1.3 Dew-point water activity meter
    In a chilled mirror dewpoint system, water activity is measured by
    equilibrating the liquid phase water in the sample with the vapor phase
    water in the headspace of a closed chamber and measuring the relative
    humidity of the headspace. In the instrument, a sample is placed in a
    sample cup which is sealed against a sensor block. Inside the sensor block
    is a fan, a dewpoint sensor, a temperature sensor, and an infrared
    thermometer.  The dewpoint sensor measures the dewpoint temperature of
    the air, and the infrared thermometer measures the sample temperature.
    From these measurements the relative humidity of the headspace is
    computed as the ratio of dewpoint temperature saturation vapor pressure to
    saturation vapor pressure at the sample temperature. When the water
    activity of the sample and the relative humidity of the air are in equilibrium,
    the measurement of the headspace humidity gives the water activity of the
    sample. The purpose of the fan is to speed equilibrium and to control the
    boundary layer conductance of the dew point sensor.
    1.4 Procedure
    1.Place a dew-point water activity instrument on a level surface and in a
    relatively temperature stable environment. Allow instrument to warm up for
    ≥15minutes after turning on for optimal performance.
    2. Prepare a sample (e.g., liquid, solid, powder, gel, syrup, emulsion,
    granule) that is homogeneous and representative of the entire product.
    3. Place sample (5 to 10ml) in a disposable sample cup, completely covering
    the bottom of the cup, if possible. Place sample in to sample cup in a timely
    manner to minimize moisture loss or gain during handling. If sample is not
    to be tested immediately, place a sample cup lid on the cup to prevent
    moisture transfer with the room atomosphere.
    4. Wipe the cup rim with a lint free tissue, making sure that the rim and
    outside of the sample cup are clean and free of any sample material.
    5. Place sample cup into the instrument. Check top lip of the cup to make
    sure no sample is protruding above its rim.
    6. Seal the measurement chamber, being especially careful not to splash or
    spill the sample and contaminate the chamber.
    7. Start water activity measurement.
    1.5 Results
    Water activity of given food samples are
    S. No. Name of the Sample Water activity aw at
    25°C
    1
    1.6 Precautions

     The sample dish should be completely dry without any moisture.


     The sample should be filled in such a way that it has enough head
    space.

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