Expert Services
Lab services, testing, and consultation
Food scientists know that AQUALAB means fast, precise, best-in-class water activity meters. But there’s more to the story. For 40 years, we’ve maintained an active moisture research lab. Our scientists troubleshoot tough problems for the world’s biggest food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and ingredient companies – and we can help you, too.
Consultation specialties
🏭 Inconsistency in the production process | 🔃 Effects of reformulation on moisture properties | 👃 Consumer acceptance and sensory evaluation |
🍰 Preventing unwanted moisture migration | 🍬 Preventing unwanted texture change or loss of texture | 🏛️ Regulatory compliance |
Trusted by the world’s leading food manufacturers
Find solutions, solve problems
AQUALAB supplies more than instruments. We provide solutions to moisture-related challenges from shelf life to R&D innovation.
Testing services
💧 Water activity testing | ⚖️ Moisture content and total solids analysis | 📈 Moisture sorption isotherm investigation |
📦 Shelf-life prediction and packaging optimization | 👅 Sensory evaluation |
|
Water activity testing
Strictly speaking, water activity (aw) is the energy status of the water in a system. Practically speaking, water activity controls a product’s quality and safety. The more energy, or the higher the water activity, the more the processes can be influenced by that water.
Whether you are trying to comply with food safety regulations or wanting to know if you are making a consistent and stable product, our lab can help.
Our lab uses our patented chilled mirror dew point sensor in the AQUALAB 4TE water activity meter for samples that do not contain volatile compounds. For samples that contain volatile compounds, there is no better water activity meter than our AQUALAB TDL2.
Moisture content and total solids analysis
Moisture content and water content are often used interchangeably, but what is usually meant is a measurement of the amount of water in a product or substance. Moisture content provides valuable information about yield and quantity, and maintaining labeling and potency claims.
AQUALAB’s ROS 1 Moisture Analyzer uses a unique heat source to gently and precisely raise the sample’s temperature, vaporizing moisture without scorching or burning. Its automated software reports precise results to within the 0.1 % MC.
Moisture sorption isotherms
Moisture sorption isotherms show the relationship between water activity and moisture content of a product at a specific temperature. This can be very valuable information in understanding the product's stability and how it will be impacted by environmental conditions.
There are two methods for generating isotherms, the Dynamic Dew Point Isotherm (DDI) and the Dynamic Vapor Sorption (DVS) methods.
The DDI method shows how a product will take up or release moisture in real time. DDI data can give invaluable insight into the moisture properties of your product that can be used to identify and set critical limits for products and ingredients, accelerate the formulation process, and evaluate packaging performance and shelf life.
The AQUALAB VSA delivers fast, high-resolution graphs that change the way you understand your product. Both DDI and DVS isotherm methods are available testing services.
Shelf life prediction and packaging optimization
Many factors need to be considered when determining the shelf life of a product. We can help answer your questions with our Moisture Analysis Toolkit software. We utilize your product’s unique moisture sorption isotherm and identify a critical point for moisture related failures. Combining this information with the packaging information and conditions the product will experience, we can mathematically predict:
- The shelf life under various environmental conditions
- The change in water activity of a product for a specified amount of time and conditions
- The packaging Water Vapor Transmission Rate (WVTR) needed to ensure the stability of a product over the desired shelf life
- The combined WVTR for multiple layers of packaging (i.e. primary + secondary + tertiary packaging effects)
Sensory evaluation
Sensory science is an extremely important part of the food manufacturing equation. That is why AQUALAB has partnered with the Washington State University Sensory Science Center to combine the expertise from both of our labs.
