MOISTURE CONTENT MEASUREMENT OF POWDERED FOOD USING RF IMPEDANCE SPECTROSCOPIC METHOD

This study was conducted to measure the moisture content of powdered food using RF impedance spectroscopic method. In frequency range of 1.0 to 30㎒, the impedance such as reactance and resistance of parallel plate type sample holder filled with wheat flour and red-pepper powder of which moisture content range were 5.93∼-17.07%w.b. and 10.87 ∼ 27.36%w.b., respectively, was characterized using by Q-meter (HP4342). The reactance was a better parameter than the resistance in estimating the moisture density defined as product of moisture content and bulk density which was used to eliminate the effect of bulk density on RF spectral data in this study. Multivariate data analyses such as principal component regression, partial least square regression and multiple linear regression were performed to develop one calibration model having moisture density and reactance spectral data as parameters for determination of moisture content of both wheat flour and red-pepper powder. The best regression model was one by the multiple linear regression model. Its performance for unknown data of powdered food was showed that the bias, standard error of prediction and determination coefficient are 0.179% moisture content, 1.679% moisture content and 0.8849, respectively.