Quality Moisture Control Ensures Quality Flour

A food producer based in Asia is a major provider of packaged flour. With multiple manufacturing sites, the company processes 3,000 tons of wheat into flour per factory, per month.?

Traceable, repeatable measurement?

Observing inconsistencies between the quantities of wheat received and flour produced, the company’s management was eager to increase the speed and accuracy of their moisture content determination procedures. High-quality wheat grains have MC between 10–12 percent, depending on the location in which they were grown. The company typically determines these values by the ISO reference method, loss on drying with a drying oven, measuring the MC of unprocessed kernels of wheat. To reinforce reproducibility, the company decided to make the switch from the drying oven to halogen moisture analysis, and contacted several manufacturers to identify an instrument suited to their procedures. A?METTLER TOLEDO moisture analysis specialist suggested the HC103 Halogen Moisture Analyzer, helping company representatives to develop a?protocol that could reduce site-to-site variability among results and ensure quick, reliable measurements. In comparison with the other instruments tested, the HC103 was simpler to use, offering method shortcuts, user guidance and weighing-in assistance for samples, which collectively served to reduce errors.

The instruments’ traceability and accuracy simplify sample matching with results. HC103 results actually proved more repeatable than the reference method, and reduced waiting time from more than three hours to a few minutes, saving significant processing time and allowing faster batch release.

The choice for accuracy and support?

Two new HC103 instruments have now been installed at each of the company’s contract manufacturing sites. METTLER TOLEDO experts were available to travel to several facilities to help operators optimize the procedures employed, ensuring that data collection was harmonized from site to site. Pleased with the level of service provided, the company also decided to purchase METTLER TOLEDO balances to weigh samples for other qualitative and quantitative analyses, impressed by their accuracy, space saving footprint, easy handling and high durability.