Humidity monitoring is a core part of food manufacturing compliance. When moisture levels in storage or production environments go untracked, food products become vulnerable to spoilage, microbial growth, and quality degradation that can compromise both safety and shelf life. The sections below unpack the specific risks, regulatory expectations, and practical requirements around humidity dataloggers in food manufacturing.
What happens to food products when humidity isn’t monitored during manufacturing?
Unmonitored humidity during food manufacturing creates conditions where moisture-related spoilage can develop undetected. High humidity accelerates mold and bacterial growth on exposed products, while low humidity causes dehydration, texture changes, and weight loss. Both extremes compromise product quality and, depending on the product category, can create genuine food safety risks before a shipment ever leaves the facility.
For dry goods such as flour, spices, and cereals, excess moisture triggers clumping, caking, and microbial contamination. For fresh produce and chilled products, inconsistent humidity accelerates surface condensation and pathogen proliferation. In both cases, the damage is often invisible at the point of dispatch but becomes apparent on arrival or after a short time on the shelf.
The operational consequence is significant. Products that arrive outside acceptable humidity ranges generate customer complaints, trigger rejections, and create documentation gaps that are difficult to resolve without recorded data. Without a humidity datalogger capturing a continuous record of conditions, manufacturers have no way to prove that products left their facility in good condition, and no way to identify where in the chain a problem originated.
Which food safety regulations require humidity monitoring?
Several major food safety frameworks reference humidity control as part of broader environmental monitoring requirements. Regulations and standards such as HACCP principles, ISO 22000, and the BRC Global Standard for Food Safety each require food manufacturers to identify and control all environmental factors that could affect product safety, which includes moisture and humidity where relevant to the product type.
In practice, the specific humidity thresholds and monitoring frequency required depend on the product category, the production environment, and the applicable national or regional food safety legislation. Facilities handling ready-to-eat foods, dairy, or fresh produce face stricter environmental control requirements than those handling shelf-stable packaged goods.
What these frameworks share is a requirement for documented evidence. It is not enough to control humidity, and you must be able to demonstrate that control through records. A humidity datalogger that captures continuous data and produces a verifiable log is the standard mechanism for satisfying this requirement during audits and inspections.
Note: This article provides general information about humidity monitoring practices. Always consult the specific regulatory guidance applicable to your product category and operating region.
What should a humidity datalogger record to satisfy a compliance audit?
To satisfy a food manufacturing compliance audit, a humidity datalogger should record time-stamped humidity readings at regular intervals throughout the monitored period, alongside the corresponding temperature readings. Auditors typically look for a complete, unbroken data record that covers the full duration of storage or transit, with no unexplained gaps.
Beyond the raw data, the logger’s record should include:
- Measurement intervals: Readings taken at consistent, pre-defined intervals, typically every few minutes to every hour depending on product sensitivity
- Threshold alerts: A clear indication of any excursions outside the defined acceptable range, including the time and duration of the excursion
- Device calibration status: Evidence that the logger was calibrated and functioning correctly at the time of use
- Chain of custody information: Details linking the log to a specific shipment, batch, or storage period
- Readable export format: Data that can be extracted and presented in a format auditors and quality teams can review without specialist equipment
The combination of temperature and humidity monitoring in a single device is increasingly preferred by quality managers because it reduces the number of devices to manage and produces a single, integrated report for each shipment or storage period. This simplifies audit preparation and reduces the risk of mismatched records.
How is a humidity datalogger different from a temperature-only datalogger?
A humidity datalogger measures and records both relative humidity and temperature simultaneously, while a temperature-only datalogger captures temperature alone. The core hardware difference is the inclusion of a humidity sensor, which detects moisture levels in the surrounding environment and logs them alongside temperature readings in the same data file.
For many product categories, temperature monitoring alone is sufficient for cold chain compliance. But for products where moisture exposure is an independent risk factor, such as fresh herbs, powdered ingredients, pharmaceutical products, or certain chemicals, a temperature-only logger leaves a significant gap in the compliance record.
When evaluating which type to use, quality managers typically consider:
- Whether their product’s quality or safety can be affected by humidity independently of temperature
- Whether their audit framework specifically requires humidity records
- Whether the storage or transit environment is likely to experience humidity fluctuations, such as during sea freight or refrigerated road transport in variable climates
In environments where both variables matter, using a combined temperature and humidity monitoring device is more efficient and produces a more complete compliance record than running separate loggers in parallel.
How Tapp’s paper-based dataloggers support humidity and temperature monitoring
Tapp has developed paper-based dataloggers for cold chain monitoring that combine temperature monitoring with the simplicity and sustainability that food and pharmaceutical supply chains increasingly need. While traditional electronic dataloggers, whether single-use plastic devices or reusable units, require USB or Bluetooth data retrieval and generate e-waste through lithium batteries and plastic housings, paper-based dataloggers take a fundamentally different approach.
Key features that make them practical for food manufacturing and cold chain use:
- Lithium-free battery design: The battery in paper-based loggers is engineered to maintain stable performance across a wide temperature range, making it more reliable in cold environments than many single-use plastic alternatives where battery performance degrades in low temperatures
- NFC tap reading: Any NFC-enabled smartphone reads the logger instantly, with no app, no USB connection, and no dedicated hardware required at the receiving end
- Automatic cloud upload: Data uploads to the TappOS dashboard the moment the label is tapped, giving both sender and receiver access to the full temperature log
- Recyclable through standard paper waste streams: Unlike electronic dataloggers that require e-waste disposal, paper-based loggers can be recycled globally through ordinary paper recycling, supporting Scope 3 emissions reduction goals
- EN12830-certified accuracy: Professional-grade measurement accuracy that meets the standards required for food safety and pharmaceutical cold chain compliance
If you are looking for a monitoring solution that reduces your environmental footprint without compromising on data quality or audit readiness, get in touch with the Tapp team to find out how paper-based dataloggers can fit into your cold chain workflow.
