The moisture content of food is a key parameter to evaluate its quality, storage conditions, and stability during processing. Traditional assay methods, such as drying by 105°C oven method, are accurate and reliable, but require a long time and manual operation, and are not suitable for modern rapid testing. In recent years, infrared moisture analyzers have been gradually applied to food quality monitoring because of their advantages of simple operation, fast and accurate. In this paper, the infrared moisture analyzer was used as a tool to compare the moisture determination results of three kinds of foods, and the application potential of infrared method was discussed.
Instruments & Equipment
Digital display electric Drying Oven, electronic balance, electric Forced Air Drying Oven and infrared moisture analyzer (LJ-16 type)
Test samples
U.S. soybeans, exported wheat starch and protein concentrate powder were selected as experimental samples and finely ground by cyclone milling.
Test Method:
National standard method - 105±2 °C, drying for 3 hours, until constant weight is reached, the moisture is determined.
Infrared method – the measurement is carried out at 105°C by means of an infrared moisture analyzer, the measurement results are recorded and the moisture content is calculated.
Selection of sample dosage and drying time
The amount of sample directly affects the test effect of the infrared moisture analyzer. The experiment found that when the sample volume was 5g, the standard deviation of the test results was the smallest, and the drying time was the shortest. Too much or too little sample can affect the accuracy and repeatability of the test.
In the experiment, the water determination results of the three samples were statistically analyzed by F-test and t-test. The results showed that there was no significant difference in the moisture content of the two methods, that is, the infrared method had the same measurement accuracy as the national standard method. In addition, the infrared method greatly reduces the test time and enables the inspection task to be completed quickly.
Through comparative analysis, the infrared moisture analyzer method has obvious advantages compared with the traditional national standard drying method: it is easy to operate, fast and accurate to measure. The infrared method can not only improve work efficiency and reduce labor consumption, but also ensure the reliability of detection results. After statistical analysis, there is no significant difference in the measurement results between the two methods, so the infrared method can be used equivalently with traditional methods, especially for the needs of rapid detection and efficient production. In the future, with the continuous advancement of technology, infrared moisture analyzer will become one of the standard methods for food moisture detection.