The Legal Limits of Butter Water Content
International dairy regulations mandate that butter must contain at least 80% fat and no more than 16% moisture. Butter manufacturers aim to keep moisture as close to 15.90% as possible. Under-moisturized butter loses sellable weight; over-moisturized batches are rejected. Continuous butter churns make manual adjustments extremely difficult due to the product's solid, sticky phase.
Direct Churn Probe Measurement
Using a USTECH reflectance probe mounted inside the churning barrel extrusion cone, the butter was scanned continuously. The sensor measures moisture and salt levels, feeding a PLC water-dosing pump loop.
References
- ISO 3727 (IDF 80) - Butter - Determination of moisture, non-fat solids, and fat contents.
- "Moisture and Salt Standardization inside Continuous Butter Churns using High-Sensitivity Near-Infrared Probes," Dairy Food Engineering Journal, 2023.