Two numbers that drive cost, label and quality
Fat decides the nutrition label, the cost of a recipe and much of the texture. Moisture decides shelf life, texture and the yield of a process. Both are checked many times a day in a food plant, so a fast method that needs no chemicals saves a great deal of effort.
The signal is proportional to the amount of hydrogen in the fat and in the water of the sample. Because the two signals fade at different speeds, they can be told apart and reported as two separate results.
Where it is used
- Snacks, crisps and extruded products
- Chocolate and cocoa products
- Milk powder and other dairy powders and products
- Biscuits, cereals and bakery mixes
- Animal feed and pet food
- Powders, pastes and ingredients
Typical tasks are checking incoming raw materials, controlling a product during the process, and verifying a finished product against its label or specification.
Fill the tube, measure, read
The sample goes into a tube as it is, with little or no preparation. A short measurement gives the signals of fat and water, and a calibration turns them into percentages. There is no oven, no mill, no solvent and no solvent waste.
The calibration is made once for each type of product, against the laboratory method you trust, using a small set of reference samples that covers the expected range. After that, a new sample is simply read from the calibration line.
Telling fat from water in complex products
In many foods, the signals of fat, free water and water bound to the solid matrix overlap in a single decay. An inverse Laplace transform splits the decay into a distribution of relaxation times, where oil and water often appear as separate peaks. Measuring T1 and T2 together and inverting in two dimensions gives a map in which each kind of fat and water has its own place.
This is mainly a tool for research and method development, for example to understand water in bread, cheese or meat. Routine control of fat and moisture uses the simpler calibrated measurement described above.
What it adds
- No solvent, no chemicals and no waste to dispose of
- No drying oven and no grinding, so the sample is not changed before the measurement
- A short measurement time suits routine and in-process control
- Measures the whole sample volume, independent of colour and surface
- Simple to operate, so production staff can run it
- The sample is not destroyed
Points that matter in practice
- Each type of product needs its own calibration. Plan a small set of reference samples for each
- The laboratory reference method remains the basis for calibration and for resolving disputes
- Moisture results depend on how the water is bound and on the state of the sample, so validate them for your product before relying on them
- Control the temperature of the sample, and check early whether any ingredient contains magnetic material that could disturb the signal
- For very low water contents, Karl Fischer titration remains the reference. NIR is strong where many parameters are screened at once or in-line measurement is needed. NMR is strong for fat and water, independent of colour and surface
From your product to a routine method
Send or bring representative samples. MSY Consulting runs feasibility measurements, plans the calibration with you, compares the results with your reference method, and trains your team until the measurement is part of your routine.
Let's talk about your application
Send an email describing your instrument and your application, and you will get a reply.
contact@msyconsulting.euMSY CONSULTING SAS · Wissembourg, France · LinkedIn