Moisture Sorption Isotherms of Canola Meals, and Applications to Packaging

Moisture sorption isotherms were determined for defatted canola meal at 16, 22, and 34°C. The isotherms were fitted to the Guggenheim‐Anderson‐deBoer (GAB) sorption equation. This equation was then used to develop a packaging model that predicted the changes of moisture con‐tent of canola meal under stated environmental and packaging conditions. The model was tested using Melinex 813 (12 μm) and Propafilm C (28 μm) packaging films at 86% relative humidity and 23°C. The GAB equation provided a good fit to experimental data (<3% RMS). The monolayer moisture content of the meal was 9.5%. The enthalpy of sorption of the monolayer at 22°C was 84.61 KJ/mol. The model predicted the time required by packaged canola to attain a selected moisture content ± 0.5 days.