Supermarket Perimeter - July 2019 - 13

Bake'N Joy

to drive bakery sales," Kearney says.
Even then, how consumers perceive clean
label food and beverage products is becoming
more complex as the market for alternatives
grows. In some instances, consumers seem willing to tolerate a longer ingredient list if they perceive the ﬁnished product to be more sustainable
or healthier than its conventional counterpart.
"Sustainable nutrition is running up against
clean label," Rachel Cheatham, Ph.D., founder
and chief executive officer of Foodscape Group,
LLC, Chicago, said during a presentation at the
Institute of Food Technologists' annual meeting
and food expo in New Orleans, as reported by
Supermarket Perimeter sister publication Food
Business News.
During her presentation, Cheatham used the
Häagen-Dazs brand of ice cream to demonstrate how the trend is evolving. A decade ago,
Häagen-Dazs introduced its Five variety of ice
cream, which only featured ﬁve ingredients on
the label. She said the Five variety came out before clean label was an industry trend.
Jumping to the present day and using the
Häagen-Dazs Trio variety as an example, she noted
that the label is longer than the Five variety, but still
contains ingredients with which consumers are
familiar. Then she showed the ingredient panel for
a non-dairy variety of the Trio line.
"Now the list is getting longer," she said. "Is
this clean or not clean label? I'm not going to
put down the law on one side or the other, but I
want to draw your attention to the question of if
that consumer wants to keep their vegan, pure
vegetarian or, if nothing else, go non-dairy, that

ingredient label has more going on than the original? I think this is where that tradeoff is going to
come in the minds of the consumer."
Cheatham said a similar scenario is unfolding in
the plant-based meat space. Using Beyond Meat's
Beyond Burger and Impossible Foods' Impossible
Burger, she said the Beyond Burger features a long
ingredient list while the Impossible Burger includes
genetically modiﬁed ingredients.
"I dare say this is a space where the consumer
may not have realized what is happening," she
said. "What we are going to need to know from
the consumer, and the results are going to vary,
obviously, is what are the tradeoffs they are willing to make? Do they want a plant-based burger?
Do they want it to 'bleed?' And do they want
it more than knowing a cow was killed? I can't
answer that, but these are some of the questions
we are going to face."
Adding more complexity to the situation,
Cheatham used the cereal category as an example of conﬂicting trends. When General Mills, Inc.,
reformulated Trix cereal using colors perceived
as natural, the company faced a backlash from
consumers who felt the quality of the product
had been eroded.
"Yet in the same portfolio, the Kix consumer
is different from the Trix consumer," she said.
"In the Kix case, you can see colors are coming
from vegetables and fruit juices. I think it's a
good example of knowing who is looking at your
product."
In conclusion, Cheatham iterated there is not a
single deﬁnition of clean label.
"But don't let that deter you," she said. "Just
www.supermarketperimeter.com

Bake'n Joy Foods' Kitchen Cupboard
line of clean label products
offer baking solutions featuring
ingredients consumers would
ﬁnd in their own cupboards.

What does
clean label mean?

65%

of
consumers say they
look for food and
beverages that have
the shortest list of
ingredients

58%

of
consumers say
they look for food
and beverages
that contain only
ingredients they
recognize
The Hartman Group

JULY 2019 - 13

http://www.supermarketperimeter.com

Supermarket Perimeter - July 2019

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