Most manufacturers evaluate dried produce using clear, measurable specifications like moisture content, particle size, and color. These benchmarks are essential for quality control, but they don’t fully explain how an ingredient will perform over time. Two ingredients can share identical moisture percentages and look the same on paper, yet behave very differently in storage or in finished applications. The differences are shaped during processing, not during routine testing. They determine whether an ingredient remains stable on a shelf, interacts predictably with other components, or introduces variability that shows up months later.
Moisture Content Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story
Moisture percentage is one of the most important specifications to manufacturers because it affects weight, texture, and basic storage requirements. But what makes an ingredient stable is less about the amount of moisture present and more about the water activity (aw), which is a measure of how that moisture behaves. Processing factors like drying temperature, airflow patterns, and cooling protocols all play a role in how tightly water binds within the ingredient’s structure, which determines whether the ingredient supports microbial growth or remains shelf-stable over time.
Those processing controls become especially critical in products where different dried ingredients need to maintain distinct textures. In seasoning blends or snack mixes, ingredients with different water activity levels will exchange moisture over time. One component absorbs water while another dries out, changing texture or performance in ways neither ingredient would show in isolation. Because this movement happens slowly, problems often don’t surface until weeks or months after production, when the product is already on shelves.1
How Processing Determines Stability
Because those problems surface after products are already in distribution, stability has to be built in during processing rather than being addressed retroactively. The conditions that determine how an ingredient behaves months later are established during drying and handling. Silva’s processing protocols control those variables across multiple dimensions:
- Temperature profiling: Precise control over drying temperature influences water activity as well as color retention and nutrient preservation. Uneven heat can create pockets of inconsistent moisture within a batch, leading to variability in storage performance.
- Airflow uniformity: Consistent airflow ensures that all material in a drying load reaches the same target conditions. Without it, pieces within the same lot can finish at slightly different water activity levels, increasing the risk of uneven behavior in finished products.
- Cooling protocols: Cooling requires the same level of control as drying. Rapid or unmanaged cooling can introduce condensation, which subtly increases water activity even after drying is complete.
- Environmental controls during packaging: Humidity and temperature in the packaging environment affect final water activity. Ingredients must be protected from ambient moisture exposure until they are sealed and stabilized.
Water activity testing confirms that those process controls achieved their intended results. Silva measures water activity before ingredients are released, documenting that each production run meets defined targets. That verification supports food safety requirements and gives manufacturers confidence that ingredients will perform consistently in finished applications. Testing does not replace process control, but it provides documented assurance that stability was built in from the start.
Where It Matters Most
Some formulations have little margin for ingredient variability, and in those contexts water activity control stops being a background consideration and becomes a primary formulation concern. In reduced-sugar and clean label formulations, for example, sugar and salt bind water and suppress microbial activity in addition to contributing to flavor. When manufacturers reduce or remove them for health-related reasons, that buffering effect disappears. Ingredients with tightly controlled water activity levels become more important because there are fewer other variables absorbing the stability work.
Another area where this is prominent is with long shelf-life ambient products. Dry soup bases, seasoning blends, and meal kit components may sit at room temperature for a year or more before use. At that scale of time, small inconsistencies in ingredient water activity can surface as clumping, off-flavors, or texture changes that are difficult to trace back to their source.
Multi-texture products like granola bars or snack mixes present a different kind of challenge. When ingredients with different water activity levels share a package, moisture moves toward equilibrium regardless of how the product was designed. Knowing the water activity of each ingredient going in allows manufacturers to anticipate those interactions and design for stability rather than discover incompatibilities after the fact.2
What Silva Brings to the Table
Managing these variables requires more than final testing. It starts with processing infrastructure designed to control stability at every stage. At Silva, raw materials sourced from over 25 countries move through cleaning, sorting, and non-chemical pest treatment before drying begins. Cutting, sizing, and drying take place across multiple processing lines with temperature and airflow monitored throughout. Our steam sterilization and infrared treatment options are validated by third-party laboratories, so the stability of every ingredient we ship is documented and consistent.
That same focus on stability carries into product development. Our R&D team and commercial kitchen in Chicago provide manufacturers with a practical environment to evaluate ingredients in real formulations before scaling to production. Whether the goal is integrating a specific vegetable component or refining an entire product concept, we help surface stability considerations early, when adjustments are straightforward rather than reactive.
Contact Silva to Learn More
Silva’s air-dried vegetables, fruits, herbs, and spices give manufacturers a reliable starting point for products where shelf stability and consistent ingredient performance matter. Whether you’re developing something new or taking a closer look at existing formulations, our team is ready to help. Contact Silva today to learn more about our ingredients and what we can do for your next project.
1https://aqualab.com/education-guides/food-manufacturers-complete-guide-water-activity
2https://aqualab.com/market-insights/water-activity-snack-foods