Measuring moisture content in cookies using dielectric spectroscopy

Real-time non-invasive moisture content sensing techniques are needed for online moisture measurement and control in food products. In this investigation, a dielectric spectroscopy based system is used for moisture determination in cookie dough. Experiments were conducted with a concentric ring dielectric sensor in the frequency range from 10 Hz to 10 kHz. The system is calibrated based on a linear model, where the functional dependence of capacitance on moisture content is determined. The calibrated system allows for both online moisture content sensing and moisture distribution profile imaging.