Moisture in Foods

Knowing the moisture content of the materials used throughout the food and baking process has become one of the most critical components in the industry as many raw materials sold today are based upon weight. MoistTech moisture sensors can provide a quick test of the moisture levels of the manufacturer’s raw ingredients, effectively saving purchasing plants a lot of money.

It is also important to know the moisture content during the mixing stage in the food manufacturing process as water affects quality and consistency of the final product. Variations and excess moisture in mixes can result in clumping and out of spec recipe formulas. Testing food moisture during this time will allow adjustments to be made throughout the mixing process to manage moisture levels.

Manufactures strive to have the best finished product.  The amount of water a product has affects the taste, appearance, consistency, stability as well as the shelf life. Testing the moisture levels of the final product insures manufactures that they have the highest quality product and consistency.

Whether finished products have too much or too little moisture is a main concern for food manufacturers. Some food items are sold by weight, which reduces costs, can make the item lower in fat/calories and preventing it from being too dry. Adding too much water can affect the crunch by making the item taste stale or even worse contributing to bacteria/mold growth.

Sensing moisture content throughout the process also provides food manufacturers cost savings in energy and fuel costs, as well as having less product waste. With continuous NIR online moisture testing, manufacturers can monitor moisture levels which they in-turn, can precisely control ovens, dryers, roasters and fryers to optimize the production process with minimum energy requirements.

With the help of industry partners and 40 years of knowledge, MoistTech has thousands of installations worldwide in a wide variety of food products, from slurries to powders. We offer both online for the continuous readings of NIR moisture measurement and laboratory NIR moisture sensors for spot tests near lines or in your quality control labs.

While moisture is our major focus, we also supply analyzers for the continuous online measurement of protein, fat/oil, sugar, seasonings, caffeine and other constituents/elements that absorb the NIR beam.

Realizing that many food processing companies use many primary reference measurements, either in-house or out sourced, MoistTech’s NIR moisture sensors are easy to set-up and use which will provide instant and precise measurements due to no constituent losses in handling. With instant measurements provide manufacturers savings in analysis cost, delivering times and shipping costs.

MoistTech is very experienced with the requirements in the production of all types of foods. Our food moisture sensor calibrations, measurement wavelengths, algorithms and sensor optical requirements are pre-set at the factory. On moisture analysis involving dried products, accuracy can be expected to be 0.1%. On higher moisture applications, accuracy can be expected to be 0.2 and 0.5%. Fat/oil measurement and protein accuracy are subject to application. The outputs can be adjusted to optimize PLC or recording requirements. For additional information or to discuss your application, please contact our headquarters.

Food Moisture Analysis Benefits

The MoistTech Food Moisture Sensor is A Critical Part To The Following Foods