Or wait…
Headlines
Processing & Packaging
Formulation
Food safety
Business
Markets
Policy
Promotional Features
Site Archive
Multimedia
Regions
All Asia-Pacific
East Asia
South Asia
South East Asia
Oceania
Middle East
Site Archive
Multimedia
Trends
Meat
COVID-19
Alternative proteins
Asian tastes
Clean label
Fortification
Healthy living
Industry growth
Plant-based development
Prepared foods
Sugar reduction
Supply chain
Sustainability
Site Archive
Multimedia
Resources
Type of resources
China 中国
Japan 日本
Middle East
Events
All Events
Shows & Conferences
Online Events
Editorial Webinars
Events
– Last updated on GMT
Related tags Clean label ingredients list
The term ‘clean label’ does not as yet have a fixed regulatory-defined term, but is widely considered within the food and beverage sector to refer to a food product label that does not contain ingredients that consumers may consider confusing, undesirable or non-understandable, usually avoiding food additives such as chemical colourants, flavours or preservatives.
According to global food major Olam's food ingredients arm ofi (previously known as Olam Food Ingredients), the importance of clean labels on packaging may soon become even more important than the packaging design itself.
“There is a definite rise in the trend of clean label here in APAC, with many consumers and brands demanding this – research such as that by FMCG Gurus has already shown that clean label is one of the top 10 food trends in Asia, and that some 80% of consumers are receptive to this even if they aren’t 100% sure what clean label is,” ofi Vice President of Innovation Dr J.I.X. Antony told FoodNavigator-Asia.
“What we are also seeing is that consumers in Asia are not looking so much at front-of-pack labelling when it comes to making purchasing decisions, especially in places like Singapore and India, but instead are turning the package and looking at the back-of-pack ingredients list, which is where the clean label comes in.
“This actually takes place even before they look at the claims that the brand is making – they first check whether there is anything they consider confusing like E-numbers or weird chemical names, then only will they look at whether a product is high in protein or anything else like that.”
But alongside this development is also a concurrent increase in demand for visually appealing foods and beverages, demanded in particular by the newer generation of consumers.
“These younger consumers may sometimes even look for the appearance of a product before the taste as they want to put it on Instagram or other social media,” said Dr Antony.
“One example we are clearly seeing is with the colour black, which is making a resurgence. Food products like black noodle blocks and black beverages are becoming very popular for their colouring, and these younger consumers are enthusiastic about sharing these online, yet this group is also very health conscious and looking for cleaner ingredient lists.
“So there is a dilemma here - conventional black colouration in foods requires a mix of blue, yellow and red to get black, and that of course carries an E-number; whereas the newer more natural way is to use charcoal to introduce that black colour – this also has the supposed added benefit of absorbing toxins, but in fact it also takes out micronutrients, so is not an optimal solution and also has regulatory concerns in some places.
“Given the popularity of black food and beverage products, we saw the need for a new natural black food colourant and developed what we call TrueDark, which is made with natural black cocoa and is a near-neutral pH that can give a deep black colour without any E-numbers, plus cocoa is already accepted regulatorily as a food ingredient.
“One major important use of TrueDark is in chocolate or confectionery, as it enables brands to get that rich colour without using what is called ‘dutching’ or processing with alkali, thus creating clean label products.”
Developments over the past few years have also enabled natural colourants to be created for various other colours – paprika is used for red colouring, turmeric or saffron for yellow and orange, and many more.
Clean label involves more than just colouration, as most of the time products also require other aspects such as flavouring – which presents yet functionality issues without conventional chemical additives, another major challenge in creating clean label products.
“Functionality is definitely another big issue when making products with only clean label ingredients – for instance, products that contain fats may need to be stabilized with antioxidants, and conventionally this would require another E-number to be added,” said Dr Antony.
“Now, we know that it is possible to bring in natural stabilisers via natural antioxidants and flavonoids found in cocoa and spices – cocoa is rich in polyphenols and spices like turmeric are rich in things like curcumin, which can act as natural stabilisers.
“This is particularly important in the bakery sector, where products could have some 20% to 25% fat content and require such ingredients to improve shelf life yet also maintain their clean label ingredients list.”
Other such functionality challenges could include creating gluten-free products to which the clean label solution could be to use nut flours to replace artificial thickeners and binders; or reducing sugar content without using artificial sweeteners, to which the solution could be to use spices like cinnamon.
Copyright - Unless otherwise stated all contents of this web site are © 2023 - William Reed Ltd - All Rights Reserved - Full details for the use of materials on this site can be found in the Terms & Conditions
Related topics Processing & Packaging All Asia-Pacific Asian tastes Supply chain Industry growth Bakery Beverages Confectionery Convenience foods and snacks Dairy Desserts Functional foods and drinks Meat Seafood Soups and sauces Traditional and staple foods Clean label Healthy living Sugar and starches Sweeteners Flavours and colours
Show more
High growth ahead for protein beverages makes Asia Pacific (ASPAC) the market to watch. Consumer research shows new usage occasions, key consumption barriers,...
Sauces and dressings category has always been a ground for innovation, with new tastes and new claims being launched every year in Asia Pacific. Strong...
Minerals are essential for the healthy physical and cognitive development of children.
Data shows that consumers’ liking and thirst for plant-based beverages is growing rapidly, especially in Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Indonesia....
On-demand webinars
More promotional features
