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Ensuring product safety doesn’t end when cannabis reaches the shelf. It continues through storage, handling, and the moment a patient uses it. Light, air, moisture, temperature, packaging, and handling can all affect the quality and integrity of cannabis over time. ASA’s Freshness by Design Award recognizes innovations designed to protect products through the final stages of the supply chain.

Moisture management can impact cannabinoid and terpene content and consistency. Too much or too little moisture can create different problems. As water activity rises, the potential for mold and yeast growth increases; patients are exposed to spores and mycotoxins, and the risk increases if inhaled. Overly dry flower can become brittle and lose volatile terpenes and other quality characteristics. Water activity also influences chemical reactions related to cannabinoid stability.

Moisture content measures the total amount of water in cannabis flower, while water activity measures how available that water is to support microbial growth and chemical reactions. Cured cannabis is commonly maintained around 10 to 15 percent moisture content, while a water activity range around 0.55 to 0.65 is used to balance microbial protection with preservation of product quality.

For medical cannabis patients, maintaining that balance can be especially important. Patients depend on specific cannabinoid and terpene profiles for consistent therapeutic effects. Between leaving the laboratory and reaching a patient, cannabis may pass through transportation, distribution, and retail storage, and patients may then keep products for weeks or months. At each stage, changes in moisture, temperature, light, air exposure, and handling can affect the quality, stability, and consistency of the product they ultimately use.

Cannabis testing is essential to product safety, but a passing test reflects the product’s condition when the sample was tested. Preservation tools help protect that product after testing and throughout storage by limiting environmental exposure, reducing opportunities for contamination and degradation, and helping maintain the quality and consistency patients expect from their medicine.

The Freshness by Design Award celebrates products, technologies, packaging systems, storage solutions, and other innovations that protect cannabis quality and integrity from light, air, moisture, temperature, contamination, physical damage, or tampering while supporting safe and practical use. The 2026 nominees, Cannador and Vivi (formerly Boveda), are advancing an often-overlooked part of cannabis safety: protecting product quality and integrity after cultivation, testing, and packaging through thoughtful storage and humidity control.

Learn more about the Freshness by Design Award!

MEET THE FRESHNESS BY DESIGN AWARD NOMINEES

Cannador

Cannador focuses on controlled storage for cannabis flower through containers designed to protect products while maintaining balanced humidity. Its storage systems combine lockable designs with its VaporBeads technology, which is designed to add moisture as needed within the storage environment.

For patients storing multiple products or keeping flower for extended periods, the environment inside the container can affect the condition of the cannabis they ultimately use. Cannador brings preservation, organization, humidity management, and secure storage together in a system designed specifically around cannabis flower.

Vivi

Vivi focuses on two way humidity control throughout the cannabis supply chain. Its salt and water based humidity packs are designed to respond to changing storage conditions by adding or absorbing water vapor to help maintain a stable environment around cannabis flower.

Vivi applies humidity management from curing and processing through packaging, retail, and home storage. Its work highlights how controlled relative humidity can help reduce microbial risk while preserving cannabinoids, terpenes, and other characteristics patients expect from the products they purchase.

Product Safety Does Not Stop at the Lab

A product can meet safety standards when it reaches the shelf and still change before a patient uses it. Preservation systems help carry the benefits of testing, cultivation, and manufacturing standards through the rest of the product’s lifespan.

The nominees for the 2026 Freshness by Design Award are advancing an area of cannabis safety that patients rarely see but experience every time they open a package. Their innovations help protect against contamination and degradation while preserving the cannabinoid and terpene profiles patients expect from their medicine.

Cast your vote for the 2026 Freshness by Design Award through October 25.