Quality assurance for McVitie’s

Labcell has supplied five Decagon Devices AquaLab 4TE water activity analysers to McVitie’s Cake Company for end of line quality assurance of Chocolate Cake, Jamaica Ginger Cake, Lyle’s Golden Syrup Cake and other products from the company’s range of cakes.

These five analysers replace earlier models of AquaLab that have been in use for more than 20 years.

Upgrading to the newer models with temperature equilibration has benefited McVitie’s through more stable measurements, plus the improved data handling means readings can be tracked easily and the information can be downloaded, stored and analysed. With the instruments being used hourly on four different lines, a great deal of data is generated and improved data management is a significant advantage for traceability and specification reviews.

Water activity influences a cake’s taste, texture and shelf life, but the most important reason for McVitie’s using AquaLab analysers is to ensure the safety of its cakes, as maintaining water activity below a critical limit inhibits bacterial growth.

Because batches of cakes cannot be released unless satisfactory water activity measurements have been obtained, a fifth analyser is retained as a spare to avoid delays.