Meeting Abstract
S-19
Water and solids mobility in foods: An overview. S. SCHMIDT (1). (1) University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA.
Water plays a profound role in the production, processing, microbial safety, chemical and physical stability, and sensory perception of food ingredients and systems. Thus, water in foods has been an essential focus of study in many fields of inquiry for numerous years – yet there is still much to discover, learn, and apply. Currently, there are three main water relations in foods research avenues or approaches – water activity, molecular water mobility, and the glass transition. Since the main topic of this symposium is water activity this presentation serves as a broad overview of the three water relations in foods avenues and as a springboard to the more detailed presentations to follow that focus more exclusively on water activity measurement methods and industrial applications. Thus, the objectives of this presentation are to: 1) discuss the fundamental principles and associated measurement methods underlying each of the three water relations in foods research approaches, 2) highlight the strengthens and limitations of each approach, and 3) explain how these approaches are not mutually exclusive, but rather can be used in concert to provide a composite, multi-level (at various distance and time scales) portrait of the water and solids dynamics (that is, mobility) that govern the stability and quality behavior of food systems.