Consumer study highlights what “natural” means

22 Sep 2017 --- Supermarkets today are full of products claiming to be natural. The food and beverage industry is responding to the massive global trend towards a healthier lifestyle. To support manufacturers in understanding what consumers really want and perceive to be credibly natural, the GNT Group and market research institute TNS surveyed 5,000 people around the world. A comprehensive summary of the results, GNT’s Guide to Global Consumer Demands comprising 17 pages of findings, is now available as a free download.

“This guide provides food and beverage manufacturers with a unique manual to understand not only the naturalness trend but general eating and shopping habits, the evaluation of specific product characteristics, labels and ingredients,” says Paul Collins, Director of International Sales and Marketing at GNT Group. “Delivering insights on consumer needs, trends and innovation is an inherent part of our full-service approach. Our customers are always the first to know about surveys, market analyses and other research that ideally supplement their own studies.” 

Natural food is free from additives
The results of the latest guide show that, in order to be deemed as natural, products have to be free from additives: more than three in four people worldwide are convinced that preservatives, artificial flavors and sweeteners have no place on their ingredient lists. The most important aspect when judging naturalness, however, is color: 79 percent of consumers demand natural products to be made without artificial colorants. Factors like the use of pesticides, genetic modification and content of vitamins or minerals are of less importance. “It becomes clear that food manufacturers who want to turn consumers’ skepticism into trust need to replace artificial additives with natural and recognizable alternatives,” explains Collins.

When it comes to color, an ideal way to clean up ingredient lists is coloring foods. These are concentrates made exclusively from fruit, vegetables and edible plants which can be used in nearly every product category. On the label, they can simply be listed as “Coloring Food (concentrate of grape, elderberry)” or “concentrates (grape, elderberry)”, showing at one glance that they are natural and made from foods. 

Collins adds: “With our stable and most verified EXBERRY portfolio there is no more need to settle for additive colorants. Combining our expertise in natural food coloring with the insights from our consumer research, we can support manufacturers ideally in securing their future success.”