The Rise of Clean Label Solutions

The clean label trend continues to grow with consumers wanting more information about what they buy and consume. Besides that, most consumers nowadays ask for transparency from their manufacturers in the form of an ingredient list that consumers understand and with words they can pronounce.

By Meurens Natural

As a result, many consumers base their decision to buy a product based on a clear, clean, and short ingredients list. However, with the latter in mind, consumers still want a great tasting product!

This challenges manufacturers to reformulate some of their original products, but they must do so without compromising on taste, color, texture, and mouthfeel. 

Clean label means that a product only features natural and/or organic ingredients grown by non-GMO standards, is the least processed possible, comes from sustainable farming practices, has a low environmental impact, and a short, understandable ingredient list.

Chemically processed foods, also called ultra-processed foods, tend to be high in sugar, artificial ingredients, refined carbohydrates, and trans fats. Because of this, they are a major contributor to obesity and illness around the world.

According to the WHO, in 2016, more than 1.9 billion adults, 18 years and older, were overweight. Of these over 650 million were obese. This number tripled compared to 1975. 39% of adults aged 18 years and over were overweight in 2016, and 13% were obese. Overconsumption of sugar containing food and beverages contribute to the development of obesity. As a result, people have become aware and are increasingly concerned about weight gain, diabetes, and other possible health issues due to excess sugar consumption.

You can read the rest of this article in the November / December Issue of European Baker & Biscuit magazine, which you can access by clicking here.