Humidity control is the active management of relative humidity in storage and transport environments to prevent quality defects such as wilting in fresh produce, caking and mould in dried goods and honey, and frost accumulation in frozen stores.
In trade practice
For dried fruit, nuts and honey, warehouse teams target low relative humidity to prevent moisture uptake, caking and microbial growth; humidity indicator cards placed inside palletised loads provide a simple in-transit check. Chilled fresh produce typically requires high relative humidity to limit weight loss and wilting. In frozen cold stores, controlling humidity reduces frost build-up on evaporator coils and on product surfaces, which can cause clumping and label damage. QA teams record ambient humidity alongside temperature in storage logs.
In a specification
Product specifications for dried goods and honey typically state a maximum moisture content for the product itself; storage and transport contracts may additionally specify a relative humidity range for the storage environment as an indicative condition.