The thermogravimetry (TGA) and derivative thermogravimetry (DTG) methods have been used to measure the free water in low-moisture foods. In this study, the 2nd derivative thermogravimetry (2nd DTG) method distinguished the free and bound water based on the speed of moisture evaporation, which could be used for both low-moisture and high-moisture foods. First, the key factors related to moisture evaporation were optimized. Isothermal temperature of 30 ~ 50°C, dynamic temperature of 0.033 ~ 0.133°C/min, and flow rate of nitrogen of 20 ~ 40 mL/min were the optimal parameters for the 2nd DTG method. Under these conditions, the repeatability and reproducibility of the 2nd DTG method were enhanced, its applicability was expanded to high-moisture foods, and the accuracy was ± 4.0% of the nuclear magnetic resonance results. Hence, the 2nd DTG method is better suited for the measurement of free water in foods.

Structural properties and quality of many foods depend on changes in the state and distribution of food components. However, information on distribution of food components and their role in providing structure has been difficult to investigate in foods. Noninvasive, dynamic measurement of foods was investigated with nuclear magnetic resonance imaging to simultaneously investigate lipid and water separately. Different relaxation values exhibited by each component allowed resolution of oil and water through relaxation weighted images. This approach is applicable to study of food structure, dynamics, and component interactions.

A nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) method was developed to quantify cations in mineral water. The procedure was based on integration of signals from metal-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) complexes at δ 2.70ppm for Mg2+ and δ 2.56ppm for Ca2+. The limits of detection were below 0.5mg/L. Lack of precision did not exceed 5%. Linearity was between 1 and 500mg/L. Correlation between NMR and a reference chromatographic method was significant (p<0.0001, R2=0.99). PLS models were also established to estimate Na+ and K+ contents. R2 was 0.85 and 0.83, respectively. Root mean square errors of cross validation (RMSECV) were 8.0mg/L and 1.9mg/L for Na+ and K+, respectively. The method was applied successfully for the analysis of 31 mineral water samples. This method is a useful tool for quantification of important cations in mineral water and might easily be adapted to other food matrices.

Heterogeneous and hygroscopic characteristics of plant-based food material make it complex in structure, and therefore water distribution in its different cellular environments is very complex. There are three different cellular environments, namely the intercellular environment, the intracellular environment, and the cell wall environment inside the food structure. According to the bonding strength, intracellular water is defined as loosely bound water, cell wall water is categorized as strongly bound water, and intercellular water is known as free water (FW). During food drying, optimization of the heat and mass transfer process is crucial for the energy efficiency of the process and the quality of the product. For optimizing heat and mass transfer during food processing, understanding these three types of waters (strongly bound, loosely bound, and free water) in plant-based food material is essential. However, there are few studies that investigate cellular level water distribution and transport. As there is no direct method for determining the cellular level water distributions, various indirect methods have been applied to investigate the cellular level water distribution, and there is, as yet, no consensus on the appropriate method for measuring cellular level water in plant-based food material. Therefore, the main aim of this paper is to present a comprehensive review on the available methods to investigate the cellular level water, the characteristics of water at different cellular levels and its transport mechanism during drying. The effect of bound water transport on quality of food product is also discussed. This review article presents a comparative study of different methods that can be applied to investigate cellular water such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), bioelectric impedance analysis (BIA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and dilatometry. The article closes with a discussion of current challenges to investigating cellular water.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and pulsed nuclear magnetic resonance techniques were used to study the water mobility in sweet rolls during storage. Different fractions of water with distinguishable molecular mobility were identified. MRI provided information on the spatial distribution of water content and of water mobility. During storage, moisture migrated from the crumb to the crust, which was associated with the firming of the crumb. A spatial redistribution of water mobility within the sample was also observed. As storage time increased, the mobility of the less mobile water fraction decreased; whereas the mobility of the more mobile water fraction increased upon staling, suggesting a redistribution of water mobility within the water molecules in the samples. A relationship between water mobility and staling was discussed.

The transverse water proton relaxation in three widely differing types of sample, native lysozyme solutions, skimmed milk and apple, has been analysed. The relaxation times show characteristic variations with CPMG pulse spacing and morphology which can be interpreted in terms of chemical exchange and molecular diffusion without recourse to popular concepts such as various amounts and types of 'bound' water. Our suggest that transverse water proton relaxation might be used as a sensitive probe of changes in water distribution during cellular growth and differentiation, freeze-thawing and dehydration-rehydration in food systems.

Plant-based food materials are porous and hygroscopic in nature; therefore, it contains three water environments, namely, intercellular, intracellular water and cell wall water. The intercellular water is known as capillary water or free water which is less constrained than intracellular water, considered as loosely bound water (LBW), and cell wall water, which is recognised as strongly bound (SBW). During food processing such as drying, frying, heating and cooking, optimisation of heat and mass transfer is crucial. The existing heat and mass transfer models for food processing are developed based on the concept that all of the water inside the food material is bulk water, which can act as free water that can be easily transported. This simplistic assumption has been made due to a lack of sufficient data to enable consideration of the proportion of free and bound water in plant-based food materials. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to investigate the proportion of different types of water such as free, LBW and SBW in 11 different plant-based food materials. The water proportion was investigated using 1H NMR T2 relaxometry. The experimental results uncovers that plant-based food materials contain about 80 to 92% LBW, 6 to 16% free water and only about 1 to 6% SBW. This investigation also confirms that among the five different fruits, kiwi contains the lowest percentage of LBW while Apple contains the highest percentage of LBW. Among the vegetables, eggplant comprises the largest amount of LBW while cucumber contains least amount of SBW. An attempt was made to establish a relationship between physical properties of fruits and vegetables and the proportion of the different types of water. Interestingly, it was found that SBW strongly depends on the proportion of solid in the sample tissue whereas FW depends on the porosity of the material.Food preservation is a major concern in today's world as about one-third of the global food production is lost annually due to lack of proper processing and preservation. Food processing is very energy intensive process and it consumes about 15–20% of energy used in industrial processes. Quality of processed food is also a big concern in the industries. Therefore energy efficiency and food quality are two major concerns in the food processing industry.The current food processing techniques such as drying are unable to ensure best quality and energy efficiency as many microlevel fundamentals of hygroscopic food material are unknown. One of the major unknown is the proportions and characteristics of different types of water inside the food materials and because of this an optimised food processing cannot be designed in order to ensure high quality and energy efficiency. The existing heat and mass transfer models are based on some simplistic assumptions, for instance all of the water inside the food material is considered bulk water; which means that it acts as free water that can be transported easily. This simplistic assumption has long been used due to lack of sufficient data to enable consideration of the proportion of free and bound water. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to determine the proportion of different types of water such as free water, loosely bound water (LBW) and strongly bound water (SBW) and establish relationship between physical properties and water characteristics in hygroscopic food materials.The findings of this study will enhance the understanding of plant-based food tissue that will contribute to a better understanding of potential changes occurring during food processing and will contribute to the development of accurate heat and mass transfer models and prediction of deformation. These findings will ultimately be significant for the equipment design engineers in food processing industry.

To provide stable and low-cost naturally derived yellow pigments, a variety of food byproducts were evaluated and the constituents of lemon peel have emerged yielding a highly promising natural product with applications as a food dye. Here we report a new, highly stable and water soluble food dye called yellow #15 from the ethanol extract of the zest of Citrus limon. The structure of lemon yellow #15 was carefully assigned on the basis of spectroscopic data, including 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy, and the absolute configuration was established by comparison of the experimental CD with calculated electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectral data. CIELAB values and Delta CIELAB were measured and revealed this new water-soluble pigment has superior light stability relative to other natural products used as food dyes.

Three novel β-pinene-based fluorescent probes 2a–2c were designed and synthesized for the selective detection of Al³⁺. Probe 2a showed higher fluorescence intensity toward Al³⁺ than the other two compounds. Probe 2a determined the concentration of Al³⁺ with a rapid response time (45 s), wide pH range (pH = 1–9), excellent sensitivity (LOD = 8.1 × 10⁻⁸ M) and good selectivity. The recognition mechanism of probe 2a toward Al³⁺ was confirmed by ¹H NMR, HRMS and DFT analysis. Probe 2a was successfully used as a signal tool to quantitatively detect Al³⁺ in food samples and environmental water samples. Furthermore, probe 2a was successfully utilized to label intracellular Al³⁺, indicating its promising applications in living cells.

Nature-inspired natural deep eutectic solvents (NADESs) as anti-freezing agents including Pro:Glc (5:3), Pro:Glc (1:1), Pro:Sor (1:1), and Urea:Glc:CaCl₂ (3:6:1) were prepared. Viscosity (η), conductivity (σ), activation energy of viscous flow (Eη) and conduction (Eᴧ), transverse relaxation time (T₂), thermal behaviours, and anti-freezing capacities of the NADESs were investigated. A critical T₂ of 24.60 ms for η changes was obtained, and the relationship between η and T₂ was determined as lnη = -1.398lnT₂ + 10.688. Differentialscanningcalorimetry and low-field nuclear magnetic resonance analyses indicated NADESs could hinder the molecular motion as temperature decreased through enhancing the hydrogen-bonding strength, endowing them with excellent anti-freezing capacity. NADESs showed varied Eη (41.58 ∼ 45.72 kJ mol⁻¹) and Eᴧ (48.31 ∼ 63.08 kJ mol⁻¹), of which Pro:Sor (1:1) possessed the greatest ones, showing its greatest temperature sensitivity and best anti-frosting capacity. Applications in frozen chicken breast further announced the potentials of NADESs as anti-freezing agents for the industry.