How to Measure Salt, Fat and Moisture in Snack Foods

Producers must measure the salt, fat and moisture content in snack foods for several, crucial reasons:

  • Quality – consumers are quick to pick up on anything that falls below their expectations

  • Reputation – mistakes are hard to contain, especially in a digital age where social media can play a decisive role

  • Compliance – food must meet certain standards to be safe, and to be trusted by consumers

churros-2188871_640.jpg

Snack food is under constant scrutiny for its perceived impact on health and diet. One example is the recent recommendation to ban snacking on public transport.

The snack food industry must monitor quality of its output at the same time as meeting the intensive demand for its products. Therefore, it needs a rapid but reliable way of measuring salt, moisture and fat content in snack foods.

NIR is the ideal method for doing this.

What Makes NIR Effective?

NIR, or near infrared spectroscopy, is highly effective as a quality control method applied to the production of a wide range of foods, including:

  • Extruded snack foods

  • Fried potato crisps and tortilla chips

  • Baked goods

NIR uses infrared (IR) light to analyse these materials. This method helps food producers with:

  • Identification of ingredients and additives

  • Analysis for food labelling

  • Detection of food fraud

  • Optimisation of production processes.

NIR works by measuring infrared emissions from materials using specified wavelengths.

All objects, including foodstuffs, emit a level of infrared radiation. NIR spectroscopy measures these infrared emissions using specific wavelengths.

Reading these light emissions is a way of rapidly determining the properties of sample food materials, without having any effect on the material as it is being tested.

As a food testing method, NIR is rapid, user-friendly and non-destructive as well as being extremely cost-effective.

How NIR Measurements Work

NIR measurements, based on unique infrared emissions, will show the proportion of various substances there is in each food sample.

The concentration of these substances is visible through the various levels of intensity of specific infrared colours.

Compounds will display different IR colours as certain molecular bonds absorb infrared light wavelengths.

This form of food analysis does not harm any of the sample material, but the light will penetrate enough to provide a reliable analysis of the sample substance’s internal makeup.

This makes NIR perfect for measuring salt, fat and moisture content in snack foods and it is highly adaptable to rapid, production-line food processes.

NIR Food Measurement in Practice

NIR is a technology that is adaptable to modern snack food processes, adding value to producers and helping them make cost savings.

One clear advantage NIR enjoys is it allows producers to measure food content in real time.

Other methods, such as titration, even done quickly, can mean at least a 10-minute time lapse between taking the sample and analysing the results.

Also, periodic measurements can miss short-term issues.

Food production is a highly concentrated manufacturing process and is therefore susceptible to interruption or disruption.

With real-time testing and measurement production lines don’t have to pause, allowing for on-line intervention should there need to be amendments to the content of foods being made.

For instance, salt content is critical. At start-up, it is vital to ensure the right content is present.

Real-time NIR analysis can assist, thereby helping limit any stop-start issues in production and reduce waste or product quarantine time.

There is specially adapted NIR equipment for this purpose, including over-belt devices that can measure how much seasoning or flavouring to add, along with analysing fat and moisture content.

Example: Crisp Production

The UK population consumes around six billion packets of crisps a year, roughly 55 grams per person per week.

Crisp production is therefore big business.

Potato crisp processing requires precise measurement of ingredients, including salt, fat and moisture.

In the highly-competitive market of snack foods, consistency in taste is vital.

Too much moisture will create a soggy crisp. Too much fat or salt will taste odd to consumers.

Using NIR technology, crisp manufacturers can measure fat and moisture content after frying, but before the seasoning stage.

They can do this accurately, quickly and in real time.

Through measuring content, NIR also supports production lines in snack food production by reducing the instance of blockages in the supply of seasoning.

Where a product has not met strict specifications, NIR analysis will flag this up in time to remove it before the packaging stage, further saving on waste.

How Efficient is Your Snack Food Measuring?

For more information about NIR and specialist food testing equipment, please call us on +44 (0) 1925 860 401, email info@calibrecontrol.com, or fill in our online contact form.

 

Rachael Smith