Culinology - June 2017 - 20

LABELING trends

Some additional menu terms showing
growth in Datassential studies include "sustainable" (up 148% over the past four years
and now found on 1% of US menus); "grassfed" (up 136% over the past four years and
now found on 3% of menus); and protein
call-outs (up 71%, including high protein and
plant-based protein). Smaller penetration
terms still found on less than 1% of menus
showing growth include "soy-free," "superfood," "sprouted" and "nitrite-" or "nitratefree," according to Datassential.

"The key lies in
signaling healthy."
Liz Moskow, culinary director, Sterling-Rice Group

She said probiotic labeling is picking up,
too. "With new products coming out left
and right, they're starting to become more
regulated." The International Probiotics
Association, working with the Council for
Responsible Nutrition, has created guidelines
for "probiotic" labelling. Criteria include listing
what specific probiotics are contained "and
requiring that manufacturers prove they're
alive when ingested," Ms. Moskow said.
What do the increasingly used "healthy"
and/or "natural" terms mean on a label? The
short answer is the terms are unregulated,
for now. A new definition for "healthy" is currently in development by the Food and Drug
Administration in response to consumer and
nutrition advocates concerned that it may be
misleading.

Ingredient assurance
The company reports that "local" ingredient
claims continue to appear more frequently on
restaurant menus, up 65% over the past four
years and now on 14% of menus. However,
Ms. Conaghan said "local" has shown some
slowing of growth as consumers realize
what "local" for their region could mean. "For
example, eating local in the Midwest during
winter months really limits your options," she
said.

Defining labels

Poultry products featuring a
variety of "free-from" terms.

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Culinology | JUNE 2017

Ms. Conaghan finds that manufacturers
increasingly opt to use terms that lack regulations or are easier to guarantee in their supply
chain. Most importantly, manufacturers have
to determine which claims they may safely
make to comply with government regulations
and consumers' desire for clean
label and transparency.
Inundated with such terms
as "natural" and "organic,"
consumers now have a new
label term to ponder, according to Liz Moskow, culinary director for industry consultants
Sterling-Rice Group, Boulder:
"transitional organics."
"It takes time to transition
farmland from traditional farms
to organic, it moves slowly in
that direction, so it's not quite
there - but product is more organic than previously," she said.

So many new terms are "ethereal, nebulous, fluffy and fuzzy," said Patty Johnson,
global food analyst for Mintel. Referring to the
research company's Menu Insights database,
Ms. Johnson said the term "minimally processed" has become a positive selling point
for prepared foods, packaged meat, poultry
and seafood.
Verifying ingredient sources at the manufacturing level has taken on new importance,
too. Providing seafood fished out of "sustainable waters" leads companies such as Raw
Seafoods, Fall River, Mass., to work with its
suppliers to ensure the seafood it uses is
Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)-certified,
said Walter Zuromski, CEC, CCE, the company's director of R&D. "Part of the MSC certification is traceability - knowing where the
fish are caught," he says. "We work with some
of the largest retailers in the world and for our
added-value product (perhaps fish with a spice
rub), where we're buying seafood is important."
For such companies, further certification is
the norm. Safe Quality Food Institute (a division
of Food Marketing Institute) provides what's
known as SQF certification. "It's a program
recognized by retailers - ACME, Wegmans,
Whole Foods, etc. - all are interested in the
transparency of our manufacturing procedures," Mr. Zuromski said.
Also with transparency in mind, startup companies like Boulder-based start-up
LoveTheWild are making ingredient provenance a marketing point that may set them

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Culinology - June 2017