2015 – The Clean Year

2015 could be called The Clean Year.  The year we cleaned-up ingredient labels so consumers would know what each ingredient in our formulas is.  This could be called the year that everything became “more real” and less processed.  Perhaps consumers would celebrate how clean our labels are if they knew what they wanted in a “clean” labeled product.

According to Liz Sloan from Sloan Trends Inc., in her article titled, “Clean Label Rules, But Confusion Reigns,” 47% of consumers have never heard of the term “clean label” and 37% have heard of it but don’t know what it means.  Here at SPI we think it’s the word “clean.”  “Recognizable” “Natural” and “No Artificial” are the top three consumer clean label drivers.

Ultimately clean label is about avoiding chemicals.  Chemicals in food is the number one consumer food safety concern in 2015, up 13% from 2014.  8 in 10 consumers think preservative-free is healthy and 78% think no artificial sweeteners is healthy.

Interestingly, Sloan says that Organic, Natural, Non-GM, and Free-From are second-tier, peripheral attributes that are not driving consumers but may add to overall perception of “clean-ness.”

Consumers just want to know what’s in their food.  Did you know that 71% of consumers in all age categories think there are more harmful ingredients in foods than manufacturers are telling them?  This means they question us, the people making their food.  SPI Group stands by all of our ingredients and will always tell you everything in our products.  We may not be clean, but we promise to be transparent.

The full ELizabeth Sloan article is available in the members-only section at www.IFT.org.  It was published in the September issue of Food Technology.