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Forced Air Oven Procedure for Moisture Determination

Procedural Sequence and Description

1. Accurately weigh tray or bottle where sample is to be placed. Tare the weight and record.

2. Place ‘as-fed’ ingredient sample of at least 200 grams into a tray or bottle and weigh accurately and record.

3. Place in forced-air drying oven overnight at approximately 105 degrees centigrade.

4. Weigh the cooled sample and record the results. Calculate the percent dry matter after subtracting the weight of the tray or bottle and then divide the remainder by the original sample weight.

Example:

‘As-fed’ sample weight - Tare weight = ‘As-fed’ net weight of sample
Dry sample weight - Tare weight = ‘Dry’ net weight of sample
(‘As-fed’ net weight of sample divided by ‘Dry’ net weight of sample) x 100 = percent dry matter of sample ingredient.

5. Calculate percent moisture by subtracting percent dry matter from 100.

Other moisture determination techniques are also available to include digital, microwave, kernel testers, plus others. In all cases follow the manufacturer’s recommended procedures in concert with insights from a consulting nutritionist.