What is SOP for determining the Moisture content of Dates and Nuts based energy bar? Is it same like others ? @100°C for 3 Hours ? Or Any other Temperature range ? Please elaborate
1 Like
It depends of the kind of equipment that you use to make the determination, usually if you use a moisture content analyser, you can have your result in minutes, but they are not cheap
If you apply something like 100 °C for 3 hours is because you have an oven, and after the 3 hours you have to place the sample quickly in a
desiccator.
I am sorry that I don’t have the SOP but I think that you should keep in mind the conditions that you have because they will determine the SOP, with the moisture content analyser you do very little, usually you should take the same size of the sample, put it in the equipment, which should be be previously calibrated, before you start to operate take down the weight of the sample, many equipment do this for you too, so you only put the sample on the plate, close the lid, press the button and wait for the beep, and you’ll se the result on the screen. Usually you can have different programs. Check for Mettler Toledo moisture content analyser and you may find and SOP that suits you.
I wish I could be of more help.
Even I don’t have a written SOP for the traditional method which is more likely to what you describe. I could give some ideas about it considering that I have used in many occasions even though, slightly higher temperatures and different samples, but all is based in weight difference of the sample before and after.
Is important to make the determination twice and if the difference is considerable it means that something is wrong. This usually can be solved with a third repetition.
Best regards
2 Likes
Thanks for your response
I have both quick moisture analyzer as well as Hot air oven
In moisture analyzer balance there is no authenticity of results.
I have read literature which depicted that for fruit based bars 70’C should be used and for Nuts literarure saya 130’C Temp for 3 hrs should be used.
As I am using dates as major portion and nuts both so I have used 105’C in hot air oven for 3 hours.
Wont it affect results ?
1 Like
Ali
I will write later with more time.
If you have a big quantity of samples to check, or need quick results, the moisture analyser is the way to go. You can always validate your results with the traditional method, which should be the reference method.
You can also make correlations between both methods if you have the time. It will be a good thing to do and I recommend it because this will give you the authenticity that you need.
If you stick to a procedure and you always fallow it, the results should be consistent. I think 105 is ok. The important thing is to make sure that you always start testing the sample once the oven has reached this temperature. that the temperatura of the oven stays within an acceptable range +/- 1 °C or 2 °C, this is something that you should have studied already, the profile temperature in your oven during the 3 hours of the test, and also the distribution of the temperature inside the oven which should be uniform (ideally).
Please let me know your thoughts.
2 Likes
105 celsius deg over night. In 3 hours will not be enough to remove all the moisture. Cheers
1 Like
Thanks for your time.
I am carrying out by both methods.
Moisture analyzer is giving very much different results as compared to hot air oven method.
There is great difference in results of both equipments and you know more preference is given to hot air oven method.
Its your product then you should make an SOP of that…you want standard analysis method then consult established analytical systems from AOAC, AACC, etc or any recognized organization doing that analysis.
Welcome @Roy we missed you 
2 Likes
105 degrees centigrade for 3hrs is the standard method by AOAC if I’m not mistaken, and should not affect your result.