A roundup of April 2026 research and technical mentions citing AQUALAB instruments across food science, ingredient stability, confectionery, and energy research.
Learn how water activity and isotherms solve gummy production issues. Prevent weeping, optimize drying times, and ensure quality in vegan or sugar-free formulas.
Curing tobacco changes its chemical composition and moisture. Tightly controlling moisture allows quality control managers to deliver a consistent product.
Water activity. If you’re making shelf-stable meat, you’re required to measure it. But you can also profit from it, and this guide will show you how.
Most food companies know they could optimize their drying processes to some degree. But almost all of them underestimate what they’d gain by doing so – and what they lose by ignoring problems.
Most people intuitively know what a powder is. They’re everywhere. We interact with them daily. But with so many different categories of powder – spices, ingredients, cosmetics, pharmaceutical excipients and APIs, and countless others – it can be tough to define and resolve specific issues.
If someone were to ask you what blush, eyeliner and lotion all had in common, chances are your first answer wouldn’t be water.
Most sauces and dressings have high water activity values. What keeps them safe? Combining low pH, low water activity, or both. Here's how.
Find the ideal water activity range for your pet food product that maximizes profit, nutrition, and tastiness while keeping it safe from microbes and mold.
Many snack foods are famous for their texture, which is determined by water activity – not moisture content. Here's how water activity is beneficial.
Water activity measures the energy status of water – and energy status is a better way to evaluate moisture-related reactions that damage pharmaceuticals.
Functional foods need a shelf life that guarantees both the safety and the effectiveness of the functional ingredient. Water activity can help.
Water activity is a high-precision measurement that can help candy, confectionery and chocolate producers maximize flavor, texture, and quality.
Water activity gives critical insight into how moisture affects texture, deliquescence, phase transitions, moisture movement between components, and more.
Flow issues, clumping problems, and caking trouble in powders and all be solved with a better understanding of one simple measurement: water activity.
Cold-pressed bars are often made without chemical preservatives or large amounts of humectants. So how can manufacturers ensure safety and quality?
5 things to know about mold before formulating snack foods. There have been more than a dozen mold and microbe-related food safety recalls in the last year.
Water activity measurements make it far easier to nail the perfect taste, texture and shelf life. It also helps prevent losing yield to overdrying.
Water activity — measured and managed correctly — maximizes quality and shelf life in bread, crackers, snacks, and other cereal or grain-based products.
Karl Fischer titration measures moisture content in a sample. Water activity describes the energy status of the water. Studies say one is better.
Tillamook was born in a backyard smokehouse in the 1960s. Even with extreme growth, TCS has remained committed to producing the most authentic beef jerky on the market.
Ohio fruit snack company Peaceful Fruits is on a mission to provide healthy snacks, economic opportunity, and meaningful employment.
Research into Stevia and how best to use it gives Arboreal a competitive advantage in the alternative sweeteners industry.
Olympia’s commitment to craft and perfection led them to AQUALAB. Their AQUALAB system has helped them improve their QA and QC and impress inspectors.
Consumers and government entities expect commercially prepared foods to be safe. Accurate water activity measurements are helping ensure they are.
With the wellness industry growing at astounding rates year after year, it can seem nearly impossible to stand out. Thorne HealthTech, however, is officially up to the task. With a commitment to "science-driven wellness" and product quality and purity, Thorne is setting itself apart from competitors and helping consumers live happier and healthier lives.
Simmons Foods is one of North America’s largest producers of poultry, pet and animal nutrition products. We recently sat down with Rick Stoller, Process Improvement Manager at Simmons, to get his hard-won insights on managing moisture in pet food – and the significant impact it can have on their bottom line.
Dr. Vivian Allen is a senior research scientist in product development at Hostess Brands. From new product conception to commercialization, Dr. Allen works in a fast-paced environment, and is always looking for new solutions and technologies to improve her team’s R&D processes.
Arkopharma is Europe’s leading provider of plant-based supplements. Accurate water activity measurements help them ensure that doesn’t change.
With the help of SKALA and AQUALAB, Hampshire reduced scrap, increased yield, and ensured that their customers get perfectly consistent products every time.
When feeding malnourished children around the world, excellent quality and long shelf life are non-negotiables. Water activity plays a key role. Here’s how.
When Gregg Schieffer decided as a university student to become a chemist, he signed up to take all the chemistry courses he could. He had no idea that he would end up working as a food scientist, working specifically with pet food.
Shaunti Luce is Senior Innovation and Technology Manager at Clif Bar & Company. Her role on the food safety and quality assurance team gives her unique insight into food safety, production processes and innovation at Clif.
Bakeworks uses water activity as a primary metric to keep their products simple, honest and delicious. This is their story.
Dr. Allison Justice never intended to start a cannabis company. She grew up on a farm in South Carolina, then earned a PhD studying pansies and poinsettias. It wasn’t until a few years after grad school that cannabis came calling.
A moisture analyzer determines the moisture content of a sample. There are several types of moisture content (Mc) instruments.
Moisture sorption isotherms are a powerful tool for predicting and extending the shelf life of a product, displaying changes in water activity over time.
Water activity is the leading parameter for food quality and safety by controlling microbial growth, prevent caking and clumping, determine shelf life, and plenty more.
Does a food product's water activity level change when frozen? What about thawed? After a month of research and testing, here's what our scientists said.
[Read about the new standard —US Pharmacopeia USP ] With water activity’s greater popularity in pharmaceutical has come new regulations and standards.
[Expertise library] Candy, confectionery, chips and snacks – without the right texture, food loses its appeal. Aw helps you nail the perfect texture.
Shelf life testing can be overwhelming, time-consuming, and expensive. Water activity measurements offer a far easier and more affordable way. Here's why.
Most companies log data. Only the best use it to their competitive advantage. The right tools can transform data into a profitable course of action.
You only need two key metrics to evaluate packaging: water activity and package permeability. Let's explore how to use them and why they're important.
[Learn how] In theory, moisture content (MC) measurement is easy. Simply determine the amount of water in a product, and compare that to the weight.
Destroy delays with our fast moisture content analyzers. Get both water activity and moisture content readings in less than one minute.
[Science delivered] Water activity and pH are two measurements that are better together. Use commercial instruments to simplify your workflow.
Water activity, not water content, predicts how water will migrate. Knowing your water activity levels helps you determine how to formulate and package.
What if there was a way to control how quickly your products went rancid and bitter? Turns out there is – water activity is the answer.
Regulatory bodies around the globe require the use of water activity. We've compiled a complete regulation reference list.
The water in food and pharma products impacts how they’re used, when they degrade, and more. Moisture can’t be safely ignored – so how can its impact be measured and accounted for?
A change in energy comes with a change in vapor pressure. Let's break down how the first law of thermodynamics can help calculate the amount of change.
Stop guessing at shelf life. Learn how water activity measures water behavior to prevent mold, clumping, and spoilage in your products.
Discover how water activity prevents sugar caking and clumping. Protect product flowability in silos and reduce shipping risks using moisture sorption data.
Like any family business, Sunrise Fresh values its traditions. Fourth-generation farmers Case and Jake Samuel, the current Sunrise Fresh team, are building on the small, family-owned brand their family established before them.
Sunrise Fresh used the power of precision water activity to tighten spec, improve quality, and become the #1 dried cherry seller on Amazon.
Injection molding plastic parts with moisture-laden resin can lead to brittle, unattractive, or otherwise imperfect parts. Water activity can help.
UGA researchers use AQUALAB VSA to develop sustainable jellyfish collagen bioplastics, replacing manual testing with automated precision.
Products like tea have so little water in them that loss-on-drying methods aren’t very precise. Water activity can give a lot more information.
When measuring the water activity (also known as aw, RH, ERH, or vapor pressure) of a product, certain ingredients – volatile compounds – can cause problems. Some water activity sensors are better protected against volatiles than others. So how much protection do you need?
Small farmers on Pacific Islands have difficulty competing in the global food industry, so the crops they harvest don’t usually make it to market – or at least they didn’t until Voyaging Foods came along.
[Read more] Trying to pick the perfect moisture balance out of the many options? It can be daunting to choose the best moisture analyzer.
Kent Keller has been upgrading and educating the lactose industry for 40+ years. He stopped by to educate us, too – here's what we learned.
Consumers are clamoring for low- or no-sugar alternatives to their favorite snacks. Here’s how food companies can deliver great products without adverse effects.
Ethanol producers can boost efficiency, save money, and ensure the quality of their products by using water activity.
Fruits and nuts appeal to consumers, who love seeing familiar foods on ingredient lists. But working with natural products can be tricky.
Less processing plus longer-term preservation – hurdle technology offers big benefits. But which of the 50+ hurdles is right for you?
Storing seeds at the correct water activity (or relative humidity) level minimizes enzymatic activity, prevents fungal growth, and maintains viability.
Moisture content and water activity have to do with water, but the distinction isn’t always clear. Learn why to measure moisture content and water activity.
Water activity is defined as the ratio of the vapor pressure of water in a material (p) to the vapor pressure of pure water (po) at the same temperature.
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