Water in Foods Slides

Water in Foods Pre-lab
Some foods contain

a lot of water!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/hennasooq/15937425324
Water in foods
 Most abundant constituent of most foods
 Frequently overlooked
 Water content (%w/w) of foods ranges from <5% to >90%

Fruits and vegetables 70-90
Milk 85-90
Meat 60-75
Cheese 35-50
Bread 30-35
Preserves, honey 20-30
Butter, margarine 15-20
Flour, dry pasta, nuts 12-14
Instant coffee 2-3
Water in foods
 Medium for chemical reactions
 Most important plasticizer
– Affects softness, rheological properties, chewability, digestibility
 Reactant in hydrolytic and other reactions
– Usually ignored as concentration does not change
– What is the concentration (moles/L) of pure water?
 Interacts strongly with many food constituents
– proteins, mono-, oligo- and polysaccharides, salts, …
 Affects
– enzymatic and non-enzymatic reactions
– physical state of foods
– microbial growth
– storage qualities and shelf life of many foods
– preparation of frozen foods
 Controlling water in foods is the key to food preservation.
Water has unusual physical and chemical properties
that make it ideally suited to its biological functions.
 Water is a dipole.
– polarisation of electrons in O-H bond
– good electrical conductivity
104.5o
– excellent solvent for polar molecules
• Interacts with and disrupts
interactions between ions and polar
molecules
 Water has a strong tendency to form

hydrogen bonds (H-bonds).
 Gaseous, liquid and solid states

– triple point
– phase transitions
– food processing applications
Liquid water has a cohesive 3-D lattice structure.
 Strong association between water molecules
– Each water molecule is coordinated with up to
four other water molecules.
– Most OH groups are involved in H bonds.
• 80% at 100oC, 90% at 0oC
 The H-bond network is dynamic.

– When one H-bond breaks another forms.
– Lifetime of an H-bond is 1-20 ps (10-12 s)
 H-bonds have large dissociation energy (25 kJ/mol).
 Water is unusual for a molecule of its size.

‒ high surface tension and cohesiveness
‒ high boiling and freezing points
‒ high heat of vaporization
Properties of water cause issues in food processing.
 Hydrophobic molecules disrupt H-bonds.
– They form “cavities” in the H-bond network.
– Energetically more favourable for hydrophobic molecules to
aggregate and minimize disruption of H-bonds
• Immiscibility of water and hydrophobic molecules (oil droplets
in water)
 Water expands as it freezes
– Minimum density is at 4oC.
– Ice is less dense than water (0.9167 vs 0.9998 g/cm3 at 0oC).
– Freeze/thawing has destructive effects on soft tissues.
• Vegetables withstand freezing better than some other foods
because of rigid plant cell walls.
u Water in foods does not freeze uniformly.
‒ Solutes are concentrated in unfrozen water.
‒ This affects physical properties and chemical processes.
The dipole nature of water is the basis of heating
food by microwave radiation.
 Radiation in the microwave part of the electromagnetic
spectrum (0.3-3 GHz, l 0.001-1 m) induces water molecules
(and other dipolar molecules) in foods to align with the
magnetic field created by the radiation.
 Alternating magnetic field causes water molecules to
rotate.
– generate frictional heat as they bump into each other
 Foods with low water content are not heated well by

microwaves.
 The contribution by other molecules to heating is small
because of their low concentration compared to water.
Water content and water activity
 Water content describes the proportion of the whole that is water.
– A moisture content of 20% means 20% of the total mass is water.
– Need to know moisture content for compositional analyses
• composition expressed as % fresh weight or % dry matter
 Water activity describes the extent to which water molecules are free or
available for interactions
Partial vapour pressure of food at specified T

aw =
Partial vapour pressure of water at same T
– Relative humidity above a food kept in an enclosed space

– Humidity at which food will not lose or take up water
 Water activity of foods is more informative than water content as a

predictor of food spoilage; potential for chemical changes during storage.
Water content and water activity are not closely correlated.
% Moisture aw
Fresh fruit and vegetables 70-90 >0.95
Milk 85-90 >0.95
Fresh meat and fish 60-75 >0.95
Fresh eggs, cottage cheese, cream, ice cream 75 >0.95
Hard cheese 35-40 >0.95
Bread (excluding crust) 30-35 0.95
Butter, margarine 15-20 0.87-0.91
Fermented salami 20-30 0.87-0.91
Whole grains, flour 10-15 0.80-0.87
Jams, marmalades 20-35 0.75-0.80
Nuts 5-15 0.60-0.65
Honey, dried fruits 15-20 0.60-0.65
Dry pasta 12-14 0.5
Bread crust, crackers 2-3 0.3
Dried milk powder, instant coffee 2-4 0.2
Water activity is determined by food composition.
 Constituents or additives that bind water lower its activity.

 Foods with a higher content of hydrophilic molecules
(proteins, carbohydrates) will hold water more tightly than
foods with a high content of hydrophobic constituents (fats).
– Butter, margarine, dried fruit and honey all have 15-20%
moisture content but different water activities.
• Butter and margarine: aw = 0.87-0.91
• Dried fruit and honey: aw = 0.6-0.65
Water is not distributed evenly in foods
 Vicinal water (~0.5%)

– held at specific hydrophilic sites, not available to act as a solvent,
does not freeze at -40oC; removal may expose vulnerable sites to
oxidation
 Multilayer water (~3%)
– interacts with water held at hydrophilic sites; has significantly
depressed freezing point
 Entrapped water
– held in matrix of gel structures and bound weakly; slightly
depressed freezing point
 Free water
– held within the structure of the food and can be readily released
Measuring water content and water activity
 Water content
– gravimetric, distillation, near infra-red reflectance
– chemical reaction (Karl Fischer)
• 2 H2O + SO2 + I2 ® H2SO4 + 2 HI
• good for low-moisture content foods
 Water activity
– hygrometric (humidity)
• dew point measured by detecting condensation
on a chilled mirror
• electronic sensing of humidity
– average of many values due to uneven distribution of
water in foods
Influence of water activity on food processes
Relative rate
Water activity
Food Chemistry (3rd edit.) Belitz, Grosch, Schieberle 2004

Water activities for growth of microorganisms
 Most bacteria 0.91

 Yeasts 0.88
 Moulds, fungi 0.80
 Halophilic bacteria 0.75
 Specially adapted moulds and yeasts 0.6-0.65
 Mould spores in stored grain germinate at aw 0.75 (~14% moisture).
 Cells adapted to low water environments contain protective solutes.

– proline, glutamate, glycerol, trehalose, …
 Dehydration is one of the oldest methods for preserving foods with

a high moisture content.
Water activity influences enzymic and non-enzymic
reactions in foods
 Effect not easy to predict
 Low water availability has counteracting effects.
– concentrates reactants
• tends to speeds up reactions
– reduces mobility of reactants
• tends to slow down reactions
 At very low water activity, removal of water from
hydrophilic sites may expose vulnerable lipid molecules.
 Controlling water activity is more important in food
processing and storage than controlling moisture
content.

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Water in Foods Pre-lab

Some foods contain

 Water content (%w/w) of foods ranges from <5% to >90%

 Water has a strong tendency to form

 Gaseous, liquid and solid states

 The H-bond network is dynamic.

 H-bonds have large dissociation energy (25 kJ/mol).

 Water is unusual for a molecule of its size.

 Foods with low water content are not heated well by

Partial vapour pressure of food at specified T

– Relative humidity above a food kept in an enclosed space

 Water activity of foods is more informative than water content as a

 Constituents or additives that bind water lower its activity.

 Vicinal water (~0.5%)

Food Chemistry (3rd edit.) Belitz, Grosch, Schieberle 2004

 Most bacteria 0.91

 Mould spores in stored grain germinate at aw 0.75 (~14% moisture).

 Cells adapted to low water environments contain protective solutes.

 Dehydration is one of the oldest methods for preserving foods with

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