A mechanistic model considering water evaporation and distinguishing liquid water and water vapor transport during pasta drying was developed and validated with published experimental moisture profiles. Model predictions of the internal moisture profiles were more accurate and able to capture the evolution with time of the moisture profiles for drying at low and high air temperatures. Model simulations indicated that approximately 88% of the water is transported in the liquid state, the convective flow of liquid water is negligible and the diffusion and convection of water vapor are important. A sensitivity analysis showed that the diffusivities and the mass transfer coefficients were the parameters affecting the most significantly the model drying time and internal moisture profile estimates. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.