Clean labels are increasingly influencing consumer purchasing decisions. Wholesome ingredients, botanical extracts and plant-based innovations are a few among a range of solutions that allow consumers to feel “closer to nature” and manufacturers to maintain short ingredient lists. 

Innova Market Insights’ data indicates that between October 2022 and September 2023, Europe was the frontrunner of clean label launches globally, with a 43% share.

While opportunities are aplenty, challenges related to shelf life, taste and texture remain. Food Ingredients First speaks with key industry players — Uelzena Group, Sternchemie, Angel Yeast, ADM and Nosh.bio — to explore key developments and obstacles in clean labels and recipes.

The goodness of natural ingredients

Dairy ingredients play a critical role in clean label recipes by offering natural functionality that helps manufacturers maintain product quality.

Anja Brand, brand manager at Uelzena Ingredients, says dairy ingredients can replac synthetic additives. “The milk fat in cream, butter and concentrated butter provides a creamy texture in chocolate, ice cream or desserts, for example, and improves the flavor. It also provides a pleasant mouthfeel as milk fat melts at body temperature and does not leave an unpleasant greasy film on the tongue like some vegetable alternatives.”

“Milk fat and milk powder also have a functional influence on texture, shelf life or melting behavior — all with the same ingredient. This means that some additives in the recipe for finished products may not be used at all.”

Uelzena receives its raw milk directly from locally affiliated producers. Therefore, the company knows which farm the milk comes from, allowing it to hone sustainability initiatives.

Additionally, plant-based emulsifiers can replac their traditional, synthetic counterparts if functionality is optimized, according to Dr. Roland Rabeler, head of business development at Sternchemie.

“More and more scientific studies indicate that synthetic emulsifiers can negatively affect health or harm the environment. Our new natural alternatives closely resemble the properties of artificial emulsifiers and, at the same time, provide advantages beyond a good image. Foremost, they are harmless to health and have beneficial properties, such as being made from a natural raw material and completely biodegradable.”

Fermentation unlocks ingredient transparency

Among key clean label trends, fermentation — the process of creating or changing the characteristics of food using microbes — remains a huge driver.

For Angel Yeast, consumers’ focus on natural ingredients and health, as well as ongoing trends in salt and sugar reduction, is shaping the optimization of fermentation processes.

“Yeast extract is a natural flavor ingredient rich in amino acids, peptides and nucleotides that can provide body taste, enhance umami intensity and impart a rich mouthfeel, helping food manufacturers upgrade their product formulations to improve food quality and taste,” explains Yuan Qi, deputy director of yeast extract, Food Flavoring Research Institute at Angel Yeast.

The development of the global biotech firm’s natural umami enhancers can “upgrade” product formulations. The company has invested in screening technologies to improve the output of fermentation processes.

“For our high nucleotide yeast extract — Angeoboost series and high glutathione yeast extract — we have conducted extensive strain screening and improvement, as well as precise control of fermentation conditions to produce products with high levels of key compounds (nucleotides, glutamic acid, glutathione etc.) that can be used in clean label food formulations,” notes Qi.

Meanwhile, Nosh.bio recently announced a partnership with Zur Mühlen Group to launch Koji Chunks, touted as the world’s first single-ingredient meat substitute. CEO Tim Fronzek says fermentation helps the start-up unlock “simpler and more transparent” ingredient lists.

“We begin in our labs, cultivating seleced strains under sterile conditions. After a few days, these cultures are transferred to large-scale fermenters, in a process similar to beer brewing but adapted to the needs of our fungi, which require air to grow and have a much faster cultivation cycle. once the nutrients in the broth are consumed, we harvest the biomass, which naturally forms a meat-like structure through densely packed mycelia. The biomass is then cut, packed and frozen for shipment.”

Nosh.bio’s B2B ingredient allows manufacturers to create single-ingredient meat products, leading to a “truly clean label.”

“These meat products include only our Nosh ingredient, spices and oil, without the need for chemical additives: not only are our solutions taste and color-neutral, but they also hold inherent functionalities such as binding, thickening and emulsifying, which eliminates the need for artificial binders or preservatives, further supporting the clean label trend,” Fronzek notes.

Tech optimizes the sensory experience

Cleaner formulations can present stability issues or unwanted tastes and textures, especially when working with natural source ingredients.

“The cleaner alternatives often have slightly different properties during processing or in the final product. Therefore, processes may have to be adapted or recipes redesigned so there are no detectable quality deviations regarding taste, consistency, shelf life, etc. Interactions between new ingredients can lead to problems, but of course also to new advantages and possibilities,” explains Dr. Rabeler.

“Factors like region, source, crop or harvest also impact the quality of raw materials. Our integrated supply chain standardizes ingredient quality. We couple this with innovative technologies and a full-formulation approach from ideation to the finished application for cleaner labels,” says Bastian Hörmann, global marketing director of Sweet Goods, Dairy and Specialized Nutrition at ADM.

The sensory experience is crucial to “capturing and holding consumer attention.”

“Our TasteSpark flavor modulation and masking technology rebalances flavor profiles, masks off-notes and delivers crucial mouthfeel perception. It elevates sensory attributes in low- and no-sugar solutions, high-protein, high-fiber and plant-based formulations,” Hörmann continues.

Manufacturers also worry about shelf life in addition to flavor. ADM’s Colors from Nature portfolio tackles this by delivering stable colors for visually captivating foods, beverages and supplements.

Shelf life concerns allow Sternchemie to “shine with lecithin” as it helps avoid spoilage.

“Thanks to the natural raw material source and special production processes, we see no loss of quality in terms of stability or oxidation protection. Quite the opposite — because our lecithin products are constantly being developed further, the natural antioxidant and functional properties can be used for more and more new end applications without losing the best-before date.”

Companies balance product functionality and clean labels in various ways for animal-free foods. Fronzek says the fibers in the start-up’s products are “naturally aligned” just as meat, while the umami flavor delivers satisfaction. “These qualities are achieved through the unique properties of our biomass, which leverages its natural oil and water-holding capacities.”

“Unlike many other ingredients that require multiple processing agents or additives to achieve desirable texture and taste, our biomass delivers natural functionalities such as binding, stabilizing and thickening. This allows us to reduce or eliminate the need for synthetic binders or chemical stabilizers,” he adds.

Angel Yeast meets the demand for animal-free products with three types of yeast extract offerings.

“For example, the animal-free meat-flavored yeast extract Angearom helps modify taste and optimize texture through yeast protein, yeast dietary fiber and other natural functional ingredients, achieving formulation simplification while restoring the product flavor,” notes Qi.

The future of clean labeling

With improved consumer awareness, buyers want to make more informed decisions about food, paying attention to nutrition and composition. When it comes to clean label dairy, Uelzena’s Brand believes that veganism and vegetarianism are important consumer trends driving the sector, among others.

“The issue of regionality is playing a greater role. Pure dairy products, which have been produced according to the same artisanal principle for centuries, enjoy a good reputation and high trust among consumers,” she notes.

Sternchemie aims to sharpen its focus on special lecithins, which, according to Dr. Rabeler, will help define the next phase of clean label products.

“Next level are highly functional ingredients from a natural source that are additionally an essential source of nutrients (e.g., new plant-based protein sources with optimized processing properties or even precision-fermented proteins). We are seeing more and more possibilities and advantages in this area, especially for lecithin-based systems.”

Clean labeling will also impact the sports nutrition category, with plant-based ingredients and extracts expected to drive another wave of innovation.

“Advanced growing techniques and ingredient technology innovation are moving the needle, including higher protein solutions — and blended protein solutions/hybrids — with improved functionality, supporting the development of active nutrition beverages, bars and powders without the laundry list of ingredients,” Hörmann says.

“As consumer acceptance of novel ingredient sources and technologies like precision fermentation grow, so will their definition of what clean labels mean to them, ultimately positively impacting opportunities for new nutrition solutions,” he concludes.