Water Activity and

Sorption
Properties of Foods
Dr.Faiz-ul-Hassan Shah
Senior Lecturer
 Water activity and sorption properties of foods have been considered as
important physical properties in food formulations and processes.
Most of the biochemical and microbiological reactions are controlled by
the water activity of the system, which is therefore a useful parameter to
predict food stability and shelf life.
The rate of moisture transfer in the drying process and through the
packaging film or edible food coating during storage can be estimated
and as a result drying conditions, packaging, or coating material can be
selected using water activity and sorption properties of foods.
In addition, these properties must be considered in product development.
Water activity of the foods can be measured by water activity meter.
 Water activity of foods can be measured using methods based on
colligative properties, isopiestic transfer, and hygroscopicity of
salts and using hygrometers.
Moisture sorption isotherm describes the relationship between
water activity and the equilibrium moisture content of a food
product at constant temperature.
The simplest method to prepare sorption isotherms of foods is
storing a weighed sample in an enclosed container maintained at
a certain relative humidity at constant temperature and
reweighing it after equilibrium is reached.
The desired relative humidity environments can be generated by
using saturated salt solutions, sulfuric acid, and glycerol.
The typical water activity of some foodstuffs
Type of product Water Activity (aw)
Fresh meat and fish .99
Bread .95
Aged cheddar .85
Jams and jellies .8
Plum pudding .8
Dried fruit .6
Cookies .3
Milk powder .2
Instant coffee .2
Humectants
e.g.: sucrose, propylene glycol, glycerol
Be careful of:
Solubility, MW
Flavor
Crystallization on storage
Chemical reactivity
Toxicity
Moisture equilibration using aw
Salt Water activity
lithium chloride 0.113

potassium acetate 0.225

magnesium chloride 0.333
potassium carbonate 0.432
magnesium nitrate 0.533
potassium iodide 0.689
sodium chloride 0.743
 To make saturated salt solution
DI water is heated to 60C then the salt is added until it
cannot be solubilized anymore and a little bit of solid
salt left in the bottom.
The solution is cooled down to room temperature and
more solid salt will precipitate resulting in a slurry salt
saturated salt solution.
% Sulfuric acid (g/ml) R.H. % % Sulfuric (g/ml) R.H. %

80% 1.0 40% 57.0

75% 2.2 35% 66.8
70% 5.1 30% 75.9
65% 17.0 20% 88.5
55% 26.8 15% 92.9
50% 36.9 10% 96.2
45% 46.8 5% 98.6
 Pour some DI water to a beaker and then add the
appropriate amount of sulfuric acid.
The rest of the DI water is then added to the solution.
The prepared sulfuric acid solution is placed in a glass
desiccator.
It is noted that appropriate laboratory safety protection
equipment (as per MSDS) should be wear before
handling sulfuric acid.
Moisture Sorption Isotherm

Moisture content (d.w.b.)

aw
 Moisture Sorption Isotherm

Moisture content (d.w.b.)

aw
 Moisture Sorption Isotherm

Zone 3: Bulk water

Moisture content (d.w.b.) Zone 2 Zone 2: Loosely bound

Zone 1
water
Zone 1: Tightly bound
water.

Zone 3

aw
 Temperature Dependency

Moisture content (d.w.b.)

cold

hot

aw
Sorption and Desorption

Moisture content (d.w.b.)

desorption

sorption
Reaction Rates and Water
Activity

Moisture content (d.w.b.)

log (RATE)
tio

s
ida

on
cti
ox

rea
id
Lip

st
Mo
T HER M
PT I ON IS O
SOR Microbial growth

aw
Texture Changes

Moisture content (d.w.b.)

Crispy/crunchy

Soft

0.2-0.5
 Powder Changes

Moisture content (d.w.b.)

Free flowing

Agglomerated

~0.4
Practical part
Water solubility index
The samples are ground and 2 grams of the ground
samples are placed into a centrifuge tube.
25 millilitres (mL) of distilled water at 30C are added to
the sample.
After 30 min standing with intermittent shaking every 5
min
The sample is centrifuged with 5000 rpm for 15 min.
The supernatant is decanted into a petri dish and is
dried at 105C for overnight.
 The weight of dry solid is determined and WSI is
calculated in percent by the following equation.
Three replications are performed to determine average
WSI.

Observation table
Sr# Weight of dry Weight of dry WSI=wt.dry super.
sample supernatant Solids/wt. of dry
solids sample*100
Rehydration ratio
Representative sample of snacks are submerged in distilled
water at 20C.
The solid-liquid ratio should be kept constant at 1:50.
The rehydrated samples are weighted for certain time
intervals until rehydrated samples reach to a constant
weight.
The moisture content at constant weight condition is known
as equilibrium moisture content of rehydrated samples.
The interval and the time needed to rehydrate the samples
depend on the samples porosity and materials.
 Rehydration ratio (RR) of snacks is determined by the
following equation.

where M1=initial weight of sample (20 gram)

M2 =weight of sample at one arbitrary point of time.
Observation Table
Sr# Time (Sec.) Initial weight Final Rehydration
M1 weight M2 ratio
Hydration curve
6
5.5
5
4.5
water of hydration (g) 4
3.5
3
120 240 360 480 600 720
60 180 300 420 540 660 780
Time (sec)