GIFSQ Tools · Module 08 — Meat, Poultry, Fish & Seafood · Tool 146 of 500
Meat water-holding capacity by centrifugation: enter the sample weight, its dry weight and the weight left after centrifugation to get the water held, the water lost and the expressible moisture.
Try sample values — fills the form with the worked example below.
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Water-holding capacity (%)
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Water retained (g)
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Expressible moisture (%)
Equation: Water in sample = sample weight − dry weight. Water retained = weight after centrifugation − dry weight. Water-holding capacity (%) = water retained ÷ water in sample × 100. Expressible moisture (%) = 100 − water-holding capacity (%).
Method: Centrifugation method for MEAT water-holding capacity, as described by Wierbicki and Deatherage (1958) and Honikel (1998) — a weighed meat sample is centrifuged under stated conditions, the pellet is weighed, and the water it still holds is compared with the water the sample started with. This is the meat worksheet for Module 8; the general physicochemical version is Tool 39, and the two cover the same calculation in different scopes.
Assumptions: the dry weight is the true solids weight; all mass lost on centrifugation is water; centrifuge speed, time and temperature are the same for every sample compared.
Limitations: the result depends on centrifuge speed and time, so values are only comparable under the same conditions; drip loss and cooking loss measure different things and give different numbers; the method does not say why water was lost (pH, salt, protein state).
Rounding: water-holding capacity and expressible moisture to 2 decimal places; water weights to 2 decimal places; intermediates unrounded.
This is a calculation aid, not a laboratory report — confirm against your accredited method before citing a value.
Method: Centrifugation method for MEAT water-holding capacity, as described by Wierbicki and Deatherage (1958) and Honikel (1998) — a weighed meat sample is centrifuged under stated conditions, the pellet is weighed, and the water it still holds is compared with the water the sample started with. This is the meat worksheet for Module 8; the general physicochemical version is Tool 39, and the two cover the same calculation in different scopes.
Assumptions: the dry weight is the true solids weight; all mass lost on centrifugation is water; centrifuge speed, time and temperature are the same for every sample compared.
Limitations: the result depends on centrifuge speed and time, so values are only comparable under the same conditions; drip loss and cooking loss measure different things and give different numbers; the method does not say why water was lost (pH, salt, protein state).
Rounding: water-holding capacity and expressible moisture to 2 decimal places; water weights to 2 decimal places; intermediates unrounded.
This is a calculation aid, not a laboratory report — confirm against your accredited method before citing a value.
Worked example: A 10.0 g meat sample has a dry weight of 3.0 g, so it holds 7.0 g of water. After centrifugation it weighs 8.0 g, so 5.0 g of water is retained. Water-holding capacity = 5.0 ÷ 7.0 × 100 = 71.43 %; expressible moisture = 100 − 71.43 = 28.57 %.
Enter values above to see results.
Fresh meat usually holds 70–80% of its water under this test; a value under 60% points to a pH or processing problem. Tool 146 of 500 — GIFSQ
