Lecture 1 - Water

- Water (moisture) is predominant constituent in many food

- Water supports chemical reactions because it is direct reactant in hydrolytic
process (hydrolysis).
A  B  C
(reactants) (product)

polysaccharide  H2O hydrolysis sugar monomers

To improve shelf lives : water must be removed

- Water can be removed by increasing concentration of common salt and
sugar
- This method is called osmosis (it is physical interaction method)
Example: salted dried fish, prune (plum preserved by drying using sugar, in
wrinkled appearance)  attribute to texture

- Increase concentration of salt and sugar retards (slow down) many reactions
and inhibits growth of microorganism 1
 Moisture content of some food

Food Moisture Content (weight %)

Meat 65-75
Milk 87
Fruits/vegetables 70-90
Bread 35
Honey 20
Butter/ Margarine 16-18
Cereal floor 12-14
Roasted coffee beans 5
Milk powder 4
Edible oil 0

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 Water activity and relative vapor pressure

• There is a relationship between the water content of food and its perish ability .

 However, various types of food with the same water content differ significantly
in perish ability.

 Thus, water content alone is not a reliable indicator of perish ability

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 Types of water

• Bound water: attracted strongly (bound water) – water unavailable as a solvent,

cannot freeze below 0°C, no vapor pressure

• Free water: can extract by pressing the food sample between filter paper/by
centrifugation

• Entrapped water (e.g. pectin gels, fruit) is not bound water, but water immobilized
in capillaries/cells

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 The concept of water activity

• Water molecules that are strongly associated with non-aqueous constituents

are called bound water.

• (Bound water) are less able to support degradative activities (growth of

microorganism and hydrolytic chemical reactions) than weakly-associated
water molecules.

• Free or ready availability of water is important for growth and activity of

microorganism. It is expressed by water activity.

• The storage quality of food does not depend on the water content, but on water
activity (aw).

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The activity of pure water is 1.

aw =  p / po = 1

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• The water activity of a food would be equilibrium with relative humidity of the
atmosphere surrounding the food.

• Water activity refers to the availability of water in a food or beverage. Relative

humidity refers to the availability of water in the atmosphere around the food or
beverage.

• Therefore, water activity is directly related to the relative humidity at the same
temperature. The water activity of food can be determined from its equilibrium
relative humidity (ERH) by dividing ERH by 100.

• Multiplication of water activity by 100 gives the equilibrium relative humidity (ERH)
in percent.

• aw = p/p 0 = %ERH /100 [aw  100 = ERH (%) ]

A water activity of 0.80 means the vapor pressure (ERH) is 80 percent of that of
pure water.
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• The relative humidity about the food (the atmosphere humidity surrounding the
food) is lower than water activity of the food, the surface of the food become dry.

• The relative humidity about the food is higher than water activity of the food, the
surface of the food become moist due to condensation of moisture.

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Note:

1. RVP (relative vapor pressure) is the intrinsic property of the sample, while ERH
is the property of the atmosphere in equilibrium with the sample
aw = p/p 0 = %ERH /100

2. This equation relation is an equality only if equilibrium has been established

between the product and its environment.

3. The RVP of a sample can be determined by placing it in a

chamber and letting it achieve equilibrium (constant weight),
thereafter measuring the pressure (manometers) or relative
humidity of the chamber (electric hygrometers, dew-point instruments).

Water activity is a ratio of vapor pressures and thus has no units. It ranges from
0.0aw (bone dry) to 1.0aw (pure water).

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 Controlling the water activity

• Addition of solutes
• Formation of gels
• Lowering the temperature
• Dehydration

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Addition of solute
• Ionic solutes (such as NaCl) ties-up water in solution. Thus, higher concentration of salts and
sugar dries the food.

• Water inside the microbial cells tends to leave by osmosis due to high concentration of solutes
outside the cell. It kills the microorganism ultimately.

Formation of gels
• Formation of hydrophilic gels makes water unavailable in the medium, preventing bacterial growth.

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Lowering the temperature
• It tends to crystallize water into ice which is not useful for the growth of microorganisms.
• Water activity of water at 0 C is 1.
• - 5 C  0.907
• - 10 C  0.846
• - 20 C  0.823

• In foods, as more ice is formed, the concentration of solutes in the unfrozen water increases further and
also contributes to the lowering of water activity.

Dehydration
• It decreases the moisture content and lowers the water activity.

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Decreased water activity retards the growth of microorganism, slows
enzyme catalyzed reactions and retards non enzymatic browning.

In contrast, the rate of lipid oxidation increases in dried food system. 13

Predicting Safety and Stability

Water activity predicts safety and stability with respect to microbial growth,
chemical and biochemical reaction rates, and physical properties of products such
as moisture migration, texture, and shelf life.

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