Food Testing Labs Rely on PMB Moisture Analyser to Ensure Safety and Quality

While water is an essential ingredient in many commercial food products, too little or too much can pose safety and quality issues. That’s why food testing labs rely heavily on moisture analysis during the initial product research and development phase, and later in quality testing labs.

Maintaining the correct moisture levels is critical for safe food products, and also when determining product shelf life and expiration dates that help ensure food freshness, flavor and stability.

Moisture and weight assessments provide critical information about content, quality and safety in food. The levels of acidity and water, along with the absence or presence of bacteria, molds, pathogens and other contaminants, can be determined by analysing food samples. It is also important to validate sanitation procedures.

The use of products such as Adam Equipment’s PMB moisture analyser has gained popularity in food testing labs. Previously, labs had to rely on oven-testing to perform moisture analysis, which was time-consuming and inefficient. The PMB moisture analyser does the job in a fraction of the time, providing reliable and consistent results.

With simple operation and rapid response time, PMB moisture analysers are excellent for use in food processing and quality control. PMB offers an easy way to measure moisture content in foods, helping production workers assess the contents of mixtures and batches.

PMB accurately verifies food moisture content in less than five minutes and is easy to operate. The specimen goes into the heating chamber, which contains a 400-watt, energy-efficient halogen bulb. The bulb heats the sample in 1°C selectable increments, evenly evaporating the moisture. Three heating options provide the flexibility to customise test methods and temperatures for different food products.

After evaporating the moisture, PMB calculates the amount of moisture weight loss and responds with the moisture content. After testing several food samples, it’s simple for users to adjust and control the amount of moisture in each batch. An automatic test-setting function enables easy recall for frequent testing of the same food products without additional programming. Users can log or print information, communicate with computers or transmit test programs and results using the USB and RS-232 interfaces. There is no need for additional software to take readings, giving users freedom to collect data in any location.

Food testing labs can run multiple PMB units simultaneously to quickly assess the moisture content of multiple batches. This expedites the entire testing process for busy labs performing many tests on different foods.

An added benefit of the PMB moisture analyser is its ability to retain and store set-up information, saving the time and effort of having to re-enter the information in the next analysis. This feature is beneficial for frequently repeated food tests performed after adjustments are made in recipes or formulations.

To see a step-by-step demonstration of the basic procedure for measuring the percentage of moisture/solids using Adam Equipment’s PMB moisture analyser, see video. For more information about Adam Equipment’s other lab products please click here.