Methods and system for determining water activity of a sample material are disclosed in which a sample material is positioned in a water activity measurement device, a plurality of water activity values of the sample material are measured at a respective plurality of points of time, with the plurality of points in time preceding an equilibrium state of the water activity of the sample material, the plurality of water activity values over time are log-transformed, a trendline of the plurality of water activity values over time is calculated, and the trendline is extrapolated to determine an extrapolated water activity value of the sample material at the equilibrium state. These methods and systems can decrease the time needed to determine the water activity of the sample by reliably predicting and estimating water activity well before equilibrium is reached in the measurement chamber.

Methods and system for determining water activity of a sample material are disclosed in which a sample material is positioned in a water activity measurement device, a plurality of water activity values of the sample material are measured at a respective plurality of points of time, with the plurality of points in time preceding an equilibrium state of the water activity of the sample material, the plurality of water activity values over time are log-transformed, a trendline of the plurality of water activity values over time is calculated, and the trendline is extrapolated to determine an extrapolated water activity value of the sample material at the equilibrium state. These methods and systems can decrease the time needed to determine the water activity of the sample by reliably predicting and estimating water activity well before equilibrium is reached in the measurement chamber.

A non-destructive measurement apparatus and method for quantitatively measuring texture of a food snack is disclosed. The apparatus includes a laser generating tool, an ultrasound excitation device, an acoustic capturing device, an ultrasound capturing device and a data processing unit. The laser generating tool and the ultrasound excitation tool direct energy towards a food snack placed on a surface and produce an acoustic signal and an ultrasound signal. The data processing unit further comprises a digital signal processing module that processes the received acoustic signal and ultrasound signal. A statistical processing module further filters the acoustic signal from the data processing unit and generates a quantitative acoustic model for texture attributes such as hardness and fracturability. The quantitative model is correlated with a qualitative texture measurement from a descriptive expert panel. Texture of food snacks are quantitatively measured with the quantitative acoustic model.

A non-destructive measurement apparatus and method for quantitatively measuring texture of a food snack is disclosed. The apparatus includes a laser generating tool, an ultrasound excitation device, an acoustic capturing device, an ultrasound capturing device and a data processing unit. The laser generating tool and the ultrasound excitation tool direct energy towards a food snack placed on a surface and produce an acoustic signal and an ultrasound signal. The data processing unit further comprises a digital signal processing module that processes the received acoustic signal and ultrasound signal. A statistical processing module further filters the acoustic signal from the data processing unit and generates a quantitative acoustic model for texture attributes such as hardness and fracturability. The quantitative model is correlated with a qualitative texture measurement from a descriptive expert panel. Texture of food snacks are quantitatively measured with the quantitative acoustic model.

Disclosed herein is a method of assessing rheology characteristics of vital wheat gluten to determine how to improve the quality of VWG product and the choice of VWG for a particular product.

Disclosed herein is a method of assessing rheology characteristics of vital wheat gluten to determine how to improve the quality of VWG product and the choice of VWG for a particular product.

Disclosed is a method for evaluating cooking quality that includes: in response to receiving evaluation information of a food sent by a terminal, retrieving an assessment result corresponding to the food, the assessment result being an assessment result of the cooking quality of a cooking appliance; and determining an evaluation result of the cooking quality of the cooking appliance based on the assessment result, the evaluation information, and a preset evaluation rule. Also disclosed is a device for evaluating cooking quality. With this disclosure, both the assessment result and the evaluation information are weighted in computing the evaluation result of the cooking quality of the cooking appliance. Such an evaluation result not only reflects users' subjective evaluation of the cooking quality, but it also reflects an objective and tenable evaluation of the cooking quality, making the evaluation of the cooking quality more reasonable.

The invention relates to a method for extracting mycotoxins from grain and other food products or from feed and its subsequent quantification. Fields of application are the food industry, the animal feed industry or biotechnology. The objective of the present invention is to develop an extraction method with which it is possible to uniformly extract mycotoxins with different dissolving properties. It was found that with the aid of aqueous, buffered naphthyl and/or phenyl compounds or their heterocyclical analogues, both hydrophobic and hydrophilic mycotoxins can be extracted. The method according to the invention is characterized in that the buffered solutions of naphthyl and/or phenyl compounds and/or their heterocyclical analogues, which carry at least one sulphonic acid or at least one carbonate acid group, are brought into contact with the grain or other food products or animal feed, the aqueous solution is then separated and the content of the extracted mycotoxins in the aqueous solution is determined.

The invention relates to a method for extracting mycotoxins from grain and other food products or from feed and its subsequent quantification. Fields of application are the food industry, the animal feed industry or biotechnology. The objective of the present invention is to develop an extraction method with which it is possible to uniformly extract mycotoxins with different dissolving properties. It was found that with the aid of aqueous, buffered naphthyl and/or phenyl compounds or their heterocyclical analogues, both hydrophobic and hydrophilic mycotoxins can be extracted. The method according to the invention is characterized in that the buffered solutions of naphthyl and/or phenyl compounds and/or their heterocyclical analogues, which carry at least one sulphonic acid or at least one carbonate acid group, are brought into contact with the grain or other food products or animal feed, the aqueous solution is then separated and the content of the extracted mycotoxins in the aqueous solution is determined.

Embodiments of systems and approaches for managing post-harvest crop quality and pests are described. Such a system may include a plurality of edge devices each comprising sensor components and collectively forming a mesh network, for measuring the local physical environment within stored crops and, for example, transmitting the measurements to a service from within the crop storage area. In certain embodiments, such a system may be used to manage post-harvest crops and storage areas—for example, approaches are described for determining fumigation treatment duration, determining phosphine dosage, determining heat treatment duration, and determining safe storage time for crops.