Real-time moisture analysis key to fruit-gum candy production
Process analytical technology (PAT), originally conceived by FDA for the pharma industry to achieve tighter and more predictable control of processes, can also work well for some food and beverage industry applications. Applied properly, PAT includes tools such as multivariate analysis, design of experiments, risk analysis, statistical process control (SPC) and other process control devices. All of these tools do not have to be employed in the same application. They are used according to the level of control needed. Using PAT is a good way to guarantee quality and minimize waste. PAT makes use of inline, online real-time sensors to pull continuous data from a process, e.g., temperature and moisture.
One process variable, or critical process parameter (CPP), that lends itself well to PAT techniques is the control of moisture—such as in drying milk or maintaining the critical moisture level to produce gelatin-based confectioneries (for example, fruit-gum candies). If certain ingredients are too moist, they can stick together, creating clumps and making storage and transport difficult. If they’re too dry, they can’t be mixed properly to be further processed by other equipment.