CSC Scientific Blog

Moisture content is a critical factor to consider in the food industry. The amount of water in a product affects the product’s texture, shelf life, ease of processing, and cost to produce. Snack foods, baked goods, pet food, and dried goods are just a few examples of products that are vulnerable to moisture content issues like these. In many cases, an easy loss-on drying (LOD) test will allow you to monitor the moisture content of these products. (See the 3 Easy Steps to Run a LOD Test here.) 

 

Simple moisture analysis can be all it takes to improve the quality of your product. Let’s take a closer look at how moisture content affects each of these four product and production aspects.

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Topics: Moisture Oven Test, Moisture Analysis, Moisture Testing, CSC Digital Moisture Balance, Loss-On-Drying, Moisture, fast moisture test, moisture balance, moisture content, moisture measurement

Topics: Coulometric Karl Fischer, Volumetric Karl Fischer, Moisture Testing, Karl Fischer, Karl Fischer Titration, Moisture

A question we get a lot is:

“How do I determine the moisture in my product?"

Of course, the answer is often “it depends”, and the method does depend on the chemical and physical composition of the product. There are several methods used to determine moisture content: Loss-on-Drying (also known as Weight Loss), Karl Fischer, NIR, and Radio Frequency. 

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Topics: "Ask Art", Moisture Analysis, Karl Fischer, CSC Digital Moisture Balance, Loss-On-Drying, Moisture

“Why are my Moisture Test results inconsistent?” 

That is an issue for many of you who test for moisture. We discussed the complexities and multiplicity of issues involved with moisture content determination in our “Loss-on Drying Moisture Analysis and other Moisture Mysteries” series.

In addition to intrinsic properties of test samples that may adversely affect moisture testing systems, automatic equipment parameter set-up, operator oversights and sample handling contribute to seemingly intractable moisture test result inaccuracies.

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Topics: Moisture Analysis, Moisture Testing, Karl Fischer, Loss-On-Drying, Moisture

Often I’m asked “What is Karl Fischer titration?” I’m always somewhat reticent to answer. If I can’t quickly change the subject I revert to a simple explanation, that even I (being somewhat challenged as a chemist) can understand. The explanation seems to help the novice understand Karl Fischer.

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Topics: Coulometric Karl Fischer, Volumetric Karl Fischer, Karl Fischer, Karl Fischer Titration, Moisture