The international coffee market is valued at $102 billion. It includes everything from freeze dried instant coffee to specialty blends carefully sourced from specific growing locations. Not surprisingly, the highest quality coffee comes at the highest price along with the highest quality expectations. Coffee beans are harvested as a coffee cherry that is then processed to remove the fleshy cherry covering to produce green coffee beans. These green coffee beans are the form in which the coffee is stored and transported. When it is time to produce coffee, the green beans are roasted to create the familiar roasted coffee beans that are purchased at a store or utilized at a coffee house. The roasted beans are ground and brewed to produce the familiar cup of coffee. Obviously, each of these steps provide their own challenges and each can impact the quality of the coffee produced.
January 4, 2023 – Scientist Review
Dr. Brady Carter discusses the two standard options for testing water activity.
Since water activity testing is critical to ensure the quality and safety of manufactured products, it is a common quality laboratory test. As with any laboratory test method, good laboratory practices require routine validation and verification assessments for water activity. This can be accomplished by running test results to the actual values. Although this can be difficult for some common quality assurance tests if they do not have independent standards, water activity standards exist in the form of electrolytic (salt) solutions.
The baked snack industry is a constantly growing market valued a $440 billion. These products typically cover a range of textures, coors, and flavors, and it is critical that they remain safe while maintaining their expected texture and sensory properties. One of the most important factors influencing the quality and shelf life of bakery products in water activity. Water activity control can help prevent or minimize various degradative events such as rancidity, microbiological spoilage, staling, or changes in texture due to water migration.
