{"id":12755,"date":"2021-08-03T14:48:06","date_gmt":"2021-08-03T12:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pedak.nl\/?p=12755"},"modified":"2021-12-20T16:21:50","modified_gmt":"2021-12-20T15:21:50","slug":"what-is-the-aw-value-or-water-activity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pedak.nl\/en\/what-is-the-aw-value-or-water-activity\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the Aw value or water activity?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><span style=\"color: #f28d00;\">Aw value (water activity)<\/span> <\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Aw value (water activity) measurement is carried out for controlling the quality of:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Meat \/ fish<\/li>\n<li>Bread and pastries<\/li>\n<li>Cheese \/ dairy<\/li>\n<li>Processed food<\/li>\n<li>Chocolate \/ sweets<\/li>\n<li>Pharmaceutical products<\/li>\n<li>Cosmetics<\/li>\n<li>Pasta \/ dried products<\/li>\n<li>Animal feed<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #f28d00;\">What does the \u201cwater activity\u201d parameter mean actually<span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">\u00a0<\/span>?<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><strong>1 Total water\/moisture<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The moisture content is the total amount of water &#8211; including chemically bound water &#8211; present in a food item, expressed as a percentage of the total weight.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2 Water activity (Aw value)<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The relative moisture balance of a product; i.e. the \u201cfree\u201d water present which allows microorganisms to grow. The measurement value taken gives us the \u201cwater activity\u201d (Aw value) and ranges from 0.03 &#8211; 1.0 Aw.<\/p>\n<p>Water is a basic ingredient found in food, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. Monitoring the Aw value can be crucial for ensuring microbial safety during a product\u2019s shelf life and consumption, as well as for guaranteeing an optimal production process.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong><span style=\"color: #f28d00;\">Why measure Aw value?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Water activity, pH, temperature and other parameters correlate directly with the growth of microorganisms, with the Aw value and pH value being the two most significant ones. Free water that is available to fungi, yeasts and bacteria is behind their growth and even the production of toxins. It can cause chemical\/biochemical reactions (e.g. Maillard reactions) that have a negative impact on the following product characteristics:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>texture, flavour<\/li>\n<li>colour<\/li>\n<li>flavour<\/li>\n<li>nutritional value<\/li>\n<li>stability (shelf life)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These are just some of the main reasons why measuring water activity (Aw value) correctly is so important.<\/p>\n<p>Each year we also share our knowledge at symposia. To find out more, watch the video of our online symposium.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Pedak is the exclusive distributor of Aw meters made by the Switzerland-based company Novasina.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pedak.nl\/en\/product-categorie\/aw-meters\/\">Click here to see the range of Novasina Aw meters<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #f28d00;\"><strong>Information\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pedak.nl\/en\/aw-valueinfo2018v4\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Information booklet on measuring the Aw value (water activity) English (PDF &#8211; 4.498kb)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong><span style=\"color: #f28d00;\">Interesting articles<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pedak.nl\/en\/aw-bakery\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Aw in bakery products (English, PDF &#8211; 185kb)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pedak.nl\/en\/aw-cheese\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Aw in dairy products (English, PDF &#8211; 222kb)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pedak.nl\/en\/aw-cosmetics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Aw in cosmetics (English, PDF &#8211; 4.095kb)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pedak.nl\/en\/aw-in-powders-pedak\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Aw in powders (English, PDF &#8211; 77kb)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pedak.nl\/en\/aw-food\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Aw in food (English, PDF &#8211; 152kb)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pedak.nl\/en\/aw-probiotics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Aw and probiotics (English, PDF &#8211; 200kb)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pedak.nl\/en\/aw-karlfisher\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Aw and Karl Fischer (English PDF 498kb)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pedak.nl\/en\/aw-zoutvermindering\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Aw and salt reduction (Dutch, PDF &#8211; 160kb)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pedak.nl\/en\/aw-bacterial\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Aw and bacterial growth (English, PDF &#8211; 50kb)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pedak.nl\/en\/growthbacteriaaw\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Which microorganisms grow at which AW value?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pedak.nl\/en\/water-activity-in-pharma\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AW value in pharmaceutical products (English, PDF &#8211; 1.403kB)<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pedak.nl\/download.php?id=11\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aw value (water activity) Aw value (water activity) measurement is carried out for controlling the quality of: Meat \/ fish Bread and pastries Cheese \/ dairy Processed food Chocolate \/ sweets Pharmaceutical products Cosmetics Pasta \/ dried products Animal feed &nbsp; What does the \u201cwater activity\u201d parameter mean actually\u00a0? 1 Total water\/moisture The moisture content [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16808,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.5 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What is the Aw value or water activity? - Pedak Meettechniek<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pedak has over 45 years of experience in the field of Aw value or water activity and we are only too happy to share our knowledge.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pedak.nl\/en\/what-is-the-aw-value-or-water-activity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is the Aw value or water activity?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pedak has over 45 years of experience in the field of Aw value or water activity and we are only too happy to share our knowledge.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pedak.nl\/en\/what-is-the-aw-value-or-water-activity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pedak Meettechniek\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-08-03T12:48:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-20T15:21:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pedak.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Is-de-batch-oke_.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"555\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"312\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Pedak\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What is the Aw value or water activity? 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