PREDICTION OF WATER ACTIVITY IN FOOD SYSTEMS - A REVIEW ON THEORETICAL-MODELS

A summary of different mathematical models reported as useful for the prediction of water activity of different types of foods is presented in this work. This review considers Raoult's law, empirical models (su ch as Money-Born and Grover) and models developed upon a thermodynamic approach such as those used by Norrish, Pitzer and Bromley, among oth ers. The estimation of water activity by models such as Ross, Ferro-Ch irife-Boquet and Ferro-Benmergui-Chirife are discussed for multicompon ent mixtures. In addition, various examples which illustrate these mod els are presented.