Formula Foods

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In this example we will consider a manufacturer of dried Pet Food.

They had a product with the following characteristics:

• Product formulation studies had a critical water activity limit of 0.65 for the product.
• Production and QC departments were performing moisture content analysis on the product.
• The product had never had microbial or shelf life concerns.

By changing to water activity measurements the company is now able to sell more product for the same raw materials (pet food is sold by weight) and continue to maintain a safe and stable product.

How does that work?

Let's say that a company has a production rate of 1000 kg/hr, Operates 8 hrs/day, 5 days/week, 22 days/month (1000kg/hr x 8hrs/day x 22days/month x 12months/yr = 2,112,000kg/yr)

Sells the product for $0.90/kg (2,112,000 x $0.90 = $1,900,800.00/yr)

Originally, they dried the product to a target moisture of 8%, which for the product equated to a water activity of 0.50 a_w.

By raising the target water activity of the product to 0.65 a_w (10% moisture content), which was the designed water activity for the product, the product still meets its safety criteria AND they produce an extra 2.22% of product per year, which equates to a massive 46,886kg of 'free' product per year.  The could generate an additional $42,000 revenue for the same amount of raw materials!

In addition, production (drying) costs were reduced!

In the example shown above, the company purchased an AquaLab Series 3TE and Pawkit combo, which paid for themselves in a matter of months - now that is a smart investment.

How would you like to make an extra $42,000 per year just for selling water? This was achieved by measuring the water activity of the product rather than the moisture content.