Naturalness and ultra-processed foods The clean label trend and consumer desire for more natural ingredients and less heavily processed ones has been accelerated by studies linking the consumption of ultra-processed food with non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.24 Katharina Bagul, Industry Manager for Food and Nutrition at Euromonitor International says:
“Media coverage of the dangers to health of ultra-processed foods has raised a little bit of awareness of them amongst consumers. And there is increasing demand for freshness not only in restaurants, but also when it comes to cooking at home and avoiding additives and industrial products. It’s driving the clean label trend.”25 For the plant-based foods category, consumer fear of processing creates a dilemma as many meat and dairy alternatives are heavily processed and with long ingredients lists. Bagul adds:
“Plant-based is seeing strong growth rates, but some of the meat substitutes like burgers have quite long ingredient lists and are quite processed. This is a bit of a controversy with the desire for more natural and clean labels. It will be interesting to see in the future how many brands address this and if they find solutions with more natural and shorter ingredient’s list.”25 According to a Mintel report, almost one-third of French consumers surveyed agreed that processed plant protein food (e.g. soy burgers) are just as bad for you as processed meat (e.g. beef burger).26 This creates opportunities for manufacturers to provide solutions for consumers seeking clean label attributes like naturalness, fewer ingredients and less heavily processed food in the plant-based category. Emma Schofield, Senior Analyst, Global Food Science at Mintel says:
“Producers of plant-based dairy and meat alternatives need to be mindful of where their products fit on the scale between processed and unprocessed. Consumer interest in clean label is likely to drive demand for natural and plantderived ingredients and additives that deliver textures in food and drink. 'Real' food ingredients such as dried fruit, nuts, seeds and grains should also prove popular with consumers who seek exciting textures delivered naturally.”27
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