Clean label: nothing to declare

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the clean labelling drive has snowballed in the last three or four years.

What started as a push by UK retailers to rid products of artificial colours in the wake of the Southampton study has escalated into a full-scale clean-up operation of food labels across Europe.

“The trend was initially driven by retailers in the UK, in response to consumer concern over E-numbers in foods and is now expanding rapidly across Europe,” says Hannah Cressy, marketing manager, wholesome, National Starch Food Innovation.

Her observations are backed up by Claire Robertson, R&D taste solutions manager at Synergy, who says: “More widespread in the UK, the clean-label trend is now also seeing traction in other European countries.”

Outside the UK, the main countries where the clean-label movement has really gained momentum are Sweden, Denmark and Finland.

In fact, Avebe food market manager Christer Andersson believes that some Nordic retailers have gone even further than the British multiples.

“In Scandinavia some retailers have stipulated which ingredients they want to replace,” he says.

Even before the Southampton study, pressure to clean up labels was building in some European countries, according to Olga Schwemler, product manager with Kampffmeyer Food Innovation. “In Europe, in countries like the UK, France and Germany, clean label has predominated since 2005. The UK food industry in particular is under increased pressure to simplify ingredient lists and remove E-numbers from foods because of the high demand from retailers and consumers for the reduction of additives in foods,” she says.

Not an exact science

What hasn’t changed since the trend went viral is the lack of a clear definition as to what constitutes a clean label.

“The term clean label has different meanings, ranging from ‘free from E-numbers’ to ‘totally natural’,” says Kemin’s Kelly De Vadder.

Kampffmeyer’s Schwemler agrees that no universal definition currently exists. “The term clean label is not defined in food legislation, therefore it is very difficult to find a universal definition for clean label foods. But it is very closely connected to claims like ‘all natural’, ‘no additives or preservatives’ and ‘homemade’,” she says.

The only unequivocal definition comes from Limagrain Céréales Ingrédients (LCI) who says the term covers ‘products in which additives are eliminated’.

“More than 300 substances are considered to be additives and are authorised by the European Union, bearing a code consisting of the letter ‘E’ followed by an identification number. The additives are defined as substances not normally consumed as foods in themselves,” says Dr Walter Lopez, nutritionist at LCI.

Wild offers a similar explanation of the term. “Commonly it stands for food and beverage labels that do not contain food additives such as preservatives,” says Hélène Möller, Wild product manager, ingredients. “As a result they are free from E-numbers, which all food additives bear.”

But where does this definition leave ingredients that are chemical sounding but technically clean label such as sodium chloride, and ingredients that are classed as additives but are acceptable to many consumers – such as ascorbic acid?

LCI is pretty clear on this point too. “Following the previous definition of ‘additive’, sodium chloride has been widely used in the kitchen for a long time. Thus salt is considered an ingredient and not an additive...whereas ascorbic acid is not really an authentic food component. Did your mother use ascorbic acid in her cooking? I think not. Therefore ascorbic acid is considered a food additive by the European Union.”

The case of xanthan gum further illustrates how confused and contradictory the situation is: on the one hand, Hydrosol reports that it is one of the additives manufacturers are looking to outlaw because it sounds artificial, while on the other, consumers in the UK can go to into a supermarket and buy a pack of xanthan gum for baking gluten-free bread.

The situation is clearer when it comes to flavourings: to be clean label, a flavour has to be natural, and there is now legislation in place that stipulates when the term ‘natural’ can be used to describe a flavour.

“The latest EU flavour legislation, enforced in January 2011, provided new general conditions for the use of flavourings, food ingredients with flavouring properties and source materials. It also defined the conditions under which they could be classed as natural. This has undoubtedly helped refine what the term ‘clean label’ means in real terms,” says Joris Hermans, product line manager process flavour, DSM.

Maybe this lack of clarity doesn’t really matter anyway, given that – in the words of Hermans – “essentially the term clean label is a marketing tool, and is therefore open to interpretation...we believe that consumer understanding is the main criterion that influences an ingredient’s clean-label status. That is to say, consumers must understand exactly what they are eating and drinking.”

Additives under attack

The issue through, is not just one of removal, but also of replacement. So which of the 300 or so additives are top of food manufacturers’ hit lists and what are they being replaced with?

The first additives manufacturers were looking to strike from ingredient lists were the Southampton six: Quinoline Yellow (E104), Sunset Yellow (E110), Carmoisine (E122), Ponceau 4R (E124) and Allura Red (E129).

“The so-called Southampton study, which looked at six artificial colours in connection with hyperactivity in children, is the reason for the efforts of the food and beverage industry to replace artificial colours with colours from natural sources or colouring foodstuffs,” explains Wild’s Möller.

Wild produces colouring foodstuffs for use in extruded products such as liquorice, chewing gums and candy rolls. It also offers natural extruder-stable colours which cover a spectrum ranging from green to yellow, orange, red and brown.

Wild has also been busy on the sweeteners front, and has developed the natural fruit sweetener Fruit Up, which is made entirely from fruit via a physical production process.

Flavours in the firing line

“Food and beverage manufacturers are looking to remove non-natural flavours and flavour enhancers,” says Synergy’s Robertson. “Those that carry E-numbers are perceived by consumers as undesirable and cannot carry the all important natural claim on end products. Equally, ingredients such as MSG, recognised as being responsible for the important umami taste in savoury products, are being removed.”

Synergy’s Saporesse Plus lactic yeast extracts are said to deliver flavour and mouthfeel enhancement in cheese sauces, dips and seasonings, and can be labelled simply ‘yeast extract’ or ‘natural flavour preparation’.

Flavouring regulation EC 1334/2008, which came into force in January, has created further clean-label challenges around flavourings, as process flavours can no longer be declared natural, so manufacturers must find natural alternatives.

“This can be an expensive process, and also lead to a loss of taste,” says DSM’s Hermans. “However, there are cost-effective solutions out there which allow food producers to maintain the same authentic taste direction.”

He is specifically referring to DSM’s Maxavor YE All Natural range of flavour ingredients, which are said to offer the same functionality as process flavours.

“By combining our mild processing and yeast extract technology we have developed products that really mimic the composition of meat and meat flavours,” says Hermans. “We cook the yeast extracts under ‘home cooking’ conditions, meaning they develop authentic, home-style taste directions.”

Safe keeping

At Leatherhead’s New & Natural event, held earlier this year, Jon Arzberger, with Azelis Food & Health, reported strong growth in interest in natural preservatives for finished meat products. At the same time, Kemin reports that deli meat manufacturers are looking for solutions to improve their food safety programme against Listeria monocytogenes.

Kemin recently launched a clean label vinegar-based ingredient called BactoCEASE NV, which addresses both of these concerns, serving as a clean-label alternative to traditional synthetic preservatives and keeping deli meats safe and fresh.

Modifying thickening systems

In the emulsifiers, stabilisers and thickeners arena, there are a number of candidates for removal.

“They are additives that sound artificial, like xanthan gum and also substances with names that sound suspiciously chemical – for instance hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose or polyglycerol esters of fatty acids,” says Dr Dorotea Pein, Hydrosol’s innovation manager. “Modified starches are a problem too.”

As to Hydrosol’s proposed solutions for replacing these ingredients, Pein says: “As stabilisers, thickeners and emulsifiers we use vegetable fibres with different origins and functionalities. We replace modified starches with functional proteins and with native starches, or such that have been treated by physical means.”

Similarly, Phil Whitcomb, marketing activity manager with Arla Foods Ingredients Group, says modified starches and gums as well as mono- and di-glycerides are on the hit list.

“Our milk protein solutions can replace a full range of these additives, including modified starches, gums and emulsifiers – and the label declaration is simple: ‘milk protein’,” he says.

As an example, in yogurts, gelatine, pectin and modified starches can be replaced with milk proteins.

The problem with removing modified starch from recipes is finding a native starch with the same shear resistance and temperature and pH stability, according to Avebe’s Andersson.

“That’s very difficult to do with the knowledge we have today,” he says. However, he claims Etenia – the company’s clean label potato starch – has properties that in some applications are comparable to modified starch or even to hydrocolloids like gelatin.

In dairy products, Etenia can replace combinations of hydrocolloids and modified starch, as well as some of the fat content, thanks to its gelling and mouthfeel properties; in confectionery applications it presents a clean-label substitute for modified starch where an alternative to gelatin is sought; and in mayonnaise and dressings, it provides a means of reducing the fat content without the use hydrocolloids or modified starch.

Kampffmeyer Food Innovation claims its Purafarin functional flours, which are physically treated, are able to meet the demands of industrial food processing.

Purafarin H 151 W, for instance, is a waxy wheat flour which is said to have technological properties that are comparable to those of chemi-cally modified starch. These include improved resistance to high temperatures (enabling application in sterilised and pasteurised food and microwaveable ready meals) and improved freeze/thaw properties (enabling its use in frozen convenience foods).

Latest additions to National Starch Food Innovation’s Novation range of clean-label functional native starches include Novation Indulge 2450 and 2550. The starches can be used as co-texturisers in applications such as pasta fillings and dips, as well as to replace costly pulpy ingredients while maintaining texture and taste.

LCI, meanwhile, says it uses specially selected cereal varieties in combination with its Farigel hydrothermal treatment to obtain a range of functional flours with texturising and industrial stress-resistance properties for replacement of thickening additives such as modified starches and gums. These can be used in bakery, pastry, breakfast cereal, ready meal, meat and beverage products.

Lastly, Wild has developed a binding system based on juice concentrates as an alternative to the binding agents currently available to the cereal bar manufacturing industry, all of which rely on food additives.

“Using this binding system means that manufacturers no longer need many common additives and ingredients such as emulsifiers, fats, citric acid or sorbitol as a humectants,” says Möller.

Ingredient solutions are coming thick and fast, even though the problem they are addressing is largely a product of the consumer’s imagination.