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Water activity (aw) for low-moisture supplements

TL;DR

Water activity (aw), the ratio of vapour pressure of water in the product to that of pure water, is the moisture parameter that actually governs microbial growth — not total moisture. aw <0.60 inhibits all microbial growth; <0.70 stops most yeasts/moulds; <0.85 stops Salmonell...

Water activity (aw), the ratio of vapour pressure of water in the product to that of pure water, is the moisture parameter that actually governs microbial growth — not total moisture. aw <0.60 inhibits all microbial growth; <0.70 stops most yeasts/moulds; <0.85 stops Salmonella. Powder blends, gummies, chewables and softgels are evaluated by aw (AOAC 978.18 / ISO 21807); the gummy shelf-life model is built on aw + temperature, not LOD alone.

Regulatory anchors
  • AOAC 978.18
  • ISO 21807
How V5 handles it
QMS — quality engineered into every action, not bolted on.
Because V5 owns the operator action, the QMS sees the data the second it’s captured — not at the end of the shift.
Document control with hard kiosk-level training enforcement.
Versioned SOPs are only useful if operators are actually trained on the current version. V5 enforces it at the kiosk.
Related terms
Microbial limits
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