The Desire for Clean Label Products

With the growth of knowledge about health and wellbeing from consumers, in conjunction with the increased concern over environmentalism, consumers have become more vigilant about their purchasing decisions, taking into account the whether a product is organic, whether ingredients are locally sourced, as well as avoiding products containing long ingredients lists of including artificial flavours, colours, and any other nonorganic or natural additives.

Thus, the market for Clean Label products and ingredients has significantly grown. In 2022, the global market was valued at USD 38 billion. It was expected to continue robust growth over the next decade at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 16 percent, according to FMI (Future Market Insights).

This increased demand for products cultivated using authentic, natural, and organic ingredients are driven by the consumer focus on health, with growing concerns over the impacts of products consumed on the body and mind.

The pandemic is one key feature that has driven the health-conscious consumer and the clean-label market. Furthermore, upcoming labelling changes, requiring manufacturers to specify allergens instead of using blanket terms, reflect this movement towards consumers’ desire to quickly identify ingredients, allergens, and the products’ true nutritional value.

Consumer demand for clarity and transparency of the contents of their products, including where ingredients are sourced and whether the manner they are sourced is both ethically and environmentally conscious, are key aspects propelling the growth and market opportunity for clean label products.

As consumers have become more knowledgeable and have begun scrutinising the ingredients of the products they consume more closely, this has led to significant changes for manufacturers, with many investing in research and development and innovation to cater to these consumer demands.

Furthermore, while consumers are more often basing purchasing decisions based on clean-label ingredients, they are not willing to compromise on flavour and taste, pushing manufacturers to innovate solutions to cater to both the health benefits of clean-label products that consumers want while maintaining product flavour profiles.

Consumers’ behaviour and brand loyalty have also significantly shifted, with consumers more readily willing to switch the brands they usually buy from if another competitor has products more aligned with their values and tastes.

One of the main challenges of developing clean label products is the lengthy process as the innovation of traditional products to clean label includes the removal of highfunctioning, and established ingredients that have been long used for specific purposes, thus replacing these ingredients with clean, organic, and natural counterparts without compromising flavour or texture poses a challenge for manufacturers.

However, the popularisation of cleanlabel products and ingredients have created significant growth opportunity and has given those adhering to clean-label benefits has provided a key differential point to appeal to consumers. n