The moisture content/equilibrium relative humidity relationship of macaroni

The moisture content/equilibrium relative humidity relationship obtained at three temperatures is reported. The safe storage moisture content was found to be between 12 and 12·8 per cent, depending on the treatment of the macaroni. There is no hysteresis between the adsorption and desorption isotherms. In the normal storage range of moisture content, the effect of temperature on the equilibrium relative humidity (e.r.h.) was 3–4% r.h., or 0·7 per cent moisture content for every 10°C change in temperature. Samples of macaroni exposed to high controlled r.h.'s took 7 days to reach constant weight. A heavy duty polythene container with a tight fitting lid investigated as to its efficiency in providing an adequate water vapour barrier proved satisfactory. Virtually no change in moisture content of the packed macaroni took place after exposure to 92% r.h. and 30°C for 100 days.     

The relationship between moisture content and equilibrium relative humidity of pig feed

The moisture content-equilibrium relative humidity relationships at 5, 15 and 25°C of 3 pig meals and pellets made mostly from barley meal and wheatings, with various proportions of soya meals, were very similar to each other. The moisture content in equilibrium with 70% r.h. at 25°C was about 14%, similar to that for cereal grains but these pig feeds should be stored at or below 12% mositure content at this temperature, to avoid the risk of the development of mites.     

The relationship between moisture content and equilibrium relative humidity of dried figs

A vacuum oven method is recommended for the determination of the moisture content of figs, by drying sliced quarters of whole figs at 70°C, at a pressure of less than 5 mm Hg for 24 hr. There is a greater variation between the moisture content of whole figs than between quarters of a single fig and the mean moisture content of a sample of figs can be determined with a standard error of 0.2–0.3%, by taking one quarter each from a number of whole figs. Data are presented for the moisture content/equilibrium relative humidity (e.r.h.) relationship of Turkish Lerida figs.     

The moisture content/equilibrium relative humidity relationship and oil composition of rapeseed

The moisture content/equilibrium relative humidity relationships of a British winter-sown rapeseed variety Hektor, a British spring-sown variety Gulle and a Canadian variety Tower, were found to be similar. The adsorption moisture contents at 25°C in equilibrium with 70% relative humidity, conventionally accepted as the threshold for the growth of fungi, ranged from 8.3% for Tower to 7.5% for Hektor. The three varieties have similar oil contents, but Tower has a low content of erucic acid and glucosinolates.     

An accelerated method for adjustment of equilibrium moisture content of foods

The long equilibration period required to attain a desired water activity by traditional methods can lead to microbiological and physico-chemical changes in the food under study. To mitigate these difficulties, a system has been developed for adjusting the relative humidity of food samples to the desired levels in less than an hour. Food samples are exposed to either a saturated or a near zero water vapour pressure thereby greatly decreasing the time required for equilibration. This is mainly due to the increased mass transfer driving force. Evacuation, along with agitation of the head-space, is found to enhance the rate of moisture change. By using the sorption curves prepared using this technique, the time required for a particular food to reach a certain moisture (or a_w) level can then be predicted. The moisture and a_w levels predicted were found to be in good agreement with experiment.     

The relationship between moisture content and equilibrium relative humidity of five types of wheat flour

There was little difference at 5, 15 and 25°C between the moisture content-equilibrium relative humidity relationships of three types of bread flour and a biscuit flour made from wheat. A flour made from wheat a about 18% moisture content heated to 70°C for about 15 min, had a higher equilibrium relative humidity than the other types.     

Determination of moisture content and equilibrium relative humidity of dried fruit—Sultanas

A vacuum oven method is recommended for the determination of the moisture content of sultanas, drying to constant weight at 70°C, and at a pressure of 5 mm Hg or less, for 24 hr. It is shown that accuracy of better than 0·5 per cent cannot be guaranteed and that day to day variation, and oven position variation are encountered. A distillation method, using toluene as the entrainer, over a period of $\text{2}\text{1}\text{2}\text{hr}$, gives satisfactory estimates of moisture content when a ‘rapid’ but less accurate estimate is required. Data are presented for the moisture content/equilibrium relative humidity (e.r.h.) relationship of Turkish sultanas.     

The moisture content-equilibrium relative humidity relationship of cocoa beans

The moisture content-equilibrium relative humidity relationships for cocoa beans grown in nine different countries were similar to each other, and the maximum safe storage moisture content in equilibrium with 70% relative humidity was between 6.0 and 7.9% at 25°C. There was a large variation between the moisture content of individual beans within each sample, the maximum standard deviation observed in a sample of thirty beans being 0.97, after the moisture content had been increased by adding water.     

The moisture content—Equilibrium relative humidity relationship of malt

The equilibrium relative humidity for samples of green malt removed from the kiln during drying at up to 70°C, was higher than that for samples dried in the laboratory at 35°C, the difference being attributed to these drying temperatures. The relationship between moisture content and equilibrium relative humidity of finished malt removed from the kiln after drying and damped up in the laboratory, was also determined. The equilibrium curve for finished malt was closer to the desorption curve obtained by drying in the kiln than to the curve obtained by laboratory drying.     

Use of polyols to measure equilibrium relative humidity

Polyols were used to estimate the equilibrium relative humidity (ERH) of foods. Glycerol, ethylene glycol and propylene glycol were found to be suitable for estimating ERH, up to an ERH of 93%, by measuring the refractive index after they had equilibrated in the headspace of a food. The ERH determined by the polyol method agreed with the ERH determined using Sina and Vaisala meters to within 1% ERH for a lithium sulphate slurry, and for foods were usually within 2%. The ERH of prunes determined using the Vaisala meter was about 6% lower than the value obtained by the other methods. Unlike most electronic techniques the polyol method was unaffected by the presence of glycerol, propylene glycol or butylene glycol and so is suitable for measuring the ERH of foods containing these humectants. The polyol method can be used in developing countries where access to sophisticated equipment is limited.     

The moisture content-equilibrium relative humidity relationship of rice bran at different temperatures

The moisture content/equilibrium relative humidity relationships at 15, 25 and 35°C, for unextracted rice brans from Burma and Tanzania, unextracted bran from a South African parboiled rice, and a pelleted extracted rice bran from India, are presented and discussed. The relationships differed in shape and position of the curves, and in the magnitude of hysteresis between adsorption and desorption. The equilibrium moisture contents at 65% r.h. and below, of Burmese, Tanzanian and Indian brans were in reverse order of their fibre and ash contents. These moisture contents did not decrease consistently with oil content as they did for those cereal grains and oil-seeds previously investigated. The hysteresis for the parboiled bran was less, and the equilibrium moisture content was generally lower than for the other brans.     

The influence of air temperature and relative humidity on milling performance and flour properties

Three wheats, one Canadian and two from the UK, were used to investigate the effect of ambient temperature and relative humidity (r.h.) on milling performance and flour properties. When the temperature was varied from 25 to 15°C, a decrease in ambient temperature was accompanied by an increase in extraction rate but no change in flour moisture content. When the r.h. was varied from 70 to 50%, a decrease in r.h. was accompanied by an increase in extraction rate and a decrease in flour moisture content. Changes in r.h. had a greater influence on milling performance and flour properties than did changes in ambient temperature.     

Effects of temperature and humidity on development of four pyralid moth pests of stored products

The development of Plodia interpunctella, Ephestia cautella, E. kuehniella and E. elutella was followed carefully at selected temperatures. Infertility prevented successful breeding of the latter two species at 30°C. The first two species bred successfully at 30°C, failed to complete development at 15°C, and, at 20–30°C, completed development more quickly than the other two. All species took longer to develop and survived less well at 25% r.h. than at 70% r.h., and their pupal stages lasted about twice as long as the egg stages at temperatures allowing development of both. At 25°C, the pupal stage lasted about 9 days in P. interpunctella and E. cautella, 11–12 days in E. kuehniella and about 13 days in E. elutella.

In all species other than E. elutella, eggs held at 25°C became more tolerant of cold when aged over 1 day. Younger eggs of P. interpunctella were less tolerant of cold than any eggs of the other species, and were killed outright by holding for 19 days at 15°C.

Stocks of all four species recently collected from the field generally tolerated low r.h. and low temperature a little better than laboratory stocks, but at higher temperatures developed from egg to adult a little more slowly.     

The influence of relative humidity and thermal acclimation on the survival of adult grain beetles in cooled grain

The influence of humidity and thermal acclimation on the survival of Cryptolestes ferrugineus, Oryzaephilus surinamensis, Rhyzopertha dominica, Sitophilus granarius, S. oryzae and Tribolium castaneum in cooled wheat or flour at 45 and 70% relative humidity was studied in the laboratory. Young adults were held continuously at 30 or 32°C; cooled gradually to 13.5°C and held at that temperature; cooled gradually to 9°C and held at that temperature; or transferred directly to 9°C.

Survival at low temperatures differed, often considerably, between species, being generally shortest in T. castaneum (0.7–16 weeks) and longest in S. granarius (5–40 weeks). There was considerable interaction between the effects of temperature and humidity, with survival being, to varying degrees, shorter in 45% r.h. than in 70% r.h. At 45% r.h., an equilibrium relative humidity common in Australian storages, all species survived when the grain was cooled to 13.5°C but only S. granarius survived 26 weeks in grain cooled to 9°C.

Chill-coma temperature and acclimation temperature were linearly related in all species at each humidity. Neither the slopes nor intercepts of the relationships were influenced by humidity. There was generally an inverse relationship between survival and chill-coma temperature.

At 45% r.h., the increase in survival at 9°C attributable to acclimation ranged from 2-fold in S. oryzae (0.9 weeks) to 3.5-fold in C. ferrugineus (3.8 weeks). Corresponding values for beetles at 70% r.h. ranged from 2.3-fold in R. dominica (2.4 weeks) to 7.9-fold in C. ferrugineus (6.9 weeks).     

The moisture content-equilibrium relative humidity relationships of five varieties of Canadian wheat and of candle rapeseed at different temperatures

The relationship between moisture content and equilibrium relative humidity was determined for five varieties of Canadian wheat over a range of temperatures both for adsorbing and desorbing grains. This was also done for a new variety of oilseed rape. The differences between varieties for wheat were small as were those between the Candle rapeseed and published data for older varieties. A durum variety of wheat maintained an e.r.h. of only 2% above those of the four hard red spring varieties. It seems to be adequate to examine only one or two varieties when determining moisture relationships of hard wheats.     

环境湿度对植物蛋白膜的影响研究

研究了环境湿度对小麦蛋白膜、大豆蛋白膜以及小麦-大豆复合膜机械性能、通透性等的影响。结果表明,由于蛋白腹为亲水性膜,受环境湿度的影响,其水分含量、分子间作用力有所不同,从而导致蛋白膜的机械性能、透湿性和吸湿率也随之发生变化。膜的阻止水蒸汽渗透的能力下降,吸湿率降低,透氧率呈上升趋势。