Humectant on a label: a moisture function is not a water percentage
Keep moisture-related purpose, substance identity, and nutrition quantities in separate fields.
A humectant entry can help explain why a manufacturer selected an ingredient for a food's moisture-related properties. It cannot tell you how much water the finished food contains. The distinction is especially helpful when a substance can appear in more than one functional or nutrition context.
Identify the job being described
The EU definition includes protecting food against drying in low-humidity conditions. See Annex I of Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008. The FDA lists glycerin and sorbitol among humectant examples in its ingredient-function overview.
Those examples help you recognize terminology; they do not determine the exact role in every product bearing the name. If the package explicitly prints a function, record it. If it does not, label your note as a possible reference function rather than a confirmed explanation of that recipe.
A worked note without a guessed quantity
Imagine an invented ingredient excerpt, “humectant: glycerin.” A useful record has three entries: original wording, declared function, and quantity. The first two are available from the excerpt. The quantity is unavailable unless another declaration supplies it. Do not fill the blank with a typical internet recipe percentage.
Now suppose the same package describes a soft texture. You can record that description in another field. The ingredient excerpt alone still cannot establish how soft the food will feel after opening, how much moisture it loses, or how long that texture will last. Those are properties of a particular product under particular conditions.
Do not move a function into a nutrient row
Ingredient categories and nutrition categories organize different information. Seeing a familiar sweetener name used as a humectant does not provide its grams, and the category word does not tell you the food's total sugars or energy. Use the values actually declared on the nutrition panel for those questions.
When saving a scan or a shopping comparison, preserve the package's storage wording as well. A dictionary explanation should not replace those directions. Your finished note should make the source of each statement visible: printed ingredient, documented possible function, declared nutrient value, or direct observation. That small separation prevents an ingredient glossary from becoming an invented analysis.