Lucky 7: The food industry's top targets for squeaky clean labels

Clean label is no longer a trend, it’s the rule. Many upstart food companies enter the market with clean label credentials built in, and while legacy brands are under pressure to follow suit, it can be an onerous and expensive endeavor.###Until a few years ago, the onus was on the consumer to check ingredient lists. But as chains such as Panera Bread and Whole Foods released lengthy no-no lists, and even mainstream fast food restaurants like McDonald’s joined the drivezinc-zyme toward simpler foods, the push to rid products of artificial colors and flavors, preservatives and high fructose corn syrup while embracing cage-free eggs and antibiotic-free chicken has shifted toward the comzinc supplement goatspanies themselves. ###So which ingredients are the first to be phased out of products when manufacturers aim to “clean up” their products? ###Tamara Barnett, vice president of strategihealth aid vegan zinc gluconatec insights at The Hartman Group, said because the movement is consumer-driven, the ingredients that food and drink makers choose to cut from their products often respondschelated zinc vs zinc glycinate to their demands.###“The answer is really very category specific, which is why it’s hard to come up with a hit list of ingredients,” she told FoodDive. ###Manufacturers of children’s products are more likely to have a long list of ingredients to eliminate, including artificial sweeteners, colors, flavors and preservatives – and to give all of them equal importance – while other manufacturers may prioritize unpopular ingredients, such as artificial sweeteners.###Communicating these changes to a shopper used to food looking and tasting a certain way alsonausea after zinc supplement is a big challenge for established companies. ###“Iconic brands walk a fine line. They have built up a food experience but need to meet new perspectives,” said Barnett. “A lot of the time consumers already perceive these products as being made with simple ingredients, so shouting from the rooftops that you have taken out the high fructose corn syrup and soy lecithin might be counterproductive.”###With more consumers than ever saying they prefer simpler foods with easy-to-understand ingredient lists, having a clean label is no longer an optional extra for manufacturers. ###Here are the top priority ingredients for food and drink makers, the scale of the challenge and why they have been targeted in clean label reformulations.