Ice cream innovation: How clean label and plant-based advancements are reshaping indulgence

As the ice cream market faces growing demand for clean labels, health-conscious formulations, and plant-based alternatives, brands are racing to maintain and improve indulgent qualities without compromising on consumers’ growing ethical and nutritional concerns.

Ingredient specialists and manufacturers are innovating around sugar reduction, protein enrichment, natural inclusions, and stabilizer-free solutions — while balancing sustainability pressures and evolving consumer tastes.

Food Ingredients First speaks with experts at Valio, SVZ, and Nosh.bio to get the latest in ice cream formulation designs and challenges amid peak summer market demands. 

Clean label and transparency 

Clean label expectations continue to set the bar for ice cream innovation worldwide, with consumers scrutinizing ingredient lists and seeking transparency around formulation choices.

Johan Cerstiaens, commercial director at SVZ, highlights how “indulgence and clean label ice creams are a big trend” and says this demand is pushing natural and organic claims into the mainstream. He notes that in Europe, “natural claims — led by no additives or preservatives and organic claims — have remained stable in ice cream launches over the last five years,” underscoring an enduring appetite for simpler, more recognizable ingredient decks.

Nosh.bio, a German start-up creating foods from fungi protein, has developed alternatives that answer these demands. 

Felipe Lino, the company’s CTO and co-founder, says: “Our solutions allow ice cream manufacturers to not only replace chemical additives from their labels with an all-natural ingredient, but also significantly clean and shorten their labels. We can effectively replace more than five additives at the same time that it provides health and nutrition.”

Lino points out that plant-based producers have often resorted to gums and stabilizers to mask texture deficits — but Nosh.bio’s fermentation-based koji protein aims to eliminate the need for E-numbers while achieving a “super creamy, dairy-free ice cream with no off-tastes.”

Valio’s technical sales support manager Paula Plathin reinforces the same clean label imperative from the dairy side. She explains that Valio’s ingredients strategy centres on natural sweetness and short ingredient lists: “Valio Eila powders are suitable for high-protein, low-fat, and low-carb applications. A short ingredient list and no added sweeteners align with growing consumer demand for transparency and clean labels, allowing manufacturers to create indulgent yet healthier products.”

Protein and the “permissible pleasure” trend

Even as consumers chase indulgence, they expect their ice cream to offer nutritional and functional benefits. 

Achieving taste parity with alternative clean label ingredients is spurring innovation across the market.SVZ’s Cerstiaens describes this as “the “permissible pleasure” trend, which involves natural or organic ingredients and high-protein options — driven by “consumers who are health-conscious but still want moments of indulgence.” 

He notes the strong pull of this dynamic across global markets, with health-oriented claims coexisting with luxurious taste, texture, and novel experiences.

Valio is leaning into this demand with the development of tailored dairy ingredients. Plathin says: “Consumers want control over the source and level of sweetness in their food. Valio provides versatile solutions to meet these expectations, helping brands offer products that are both nutritionally relevant and enjoyable.” 

She also points to Valio’s new high-protein product line: “We have just launched Valio Profeel high-protein ice cream. There is 7.1g/100 g protein and the products are lactose free.”

Meanwhile, plant-based specialists like Nosh.bio are positioning their solutions not only as label cleaners but as nutritional upgrades. Lino notes: “You get complete protein, prebiotic fibre, and lower saturated fat in a lean, E-number-free label — so parity on taste plus a nutritional upgrade.”

Plant-based innovation and taste parity

The race to produce plant-based solutions that rival dairy in taste and texture is emerging as a central trend amid an uptick in consumer demands for animal-free products. 

Nosh.bio’s Lino notes that traditional vegan formulations often compromise on quality because of limited ingredient options, which force the use of stabilizers with “unappealing E-numbers” and yield inferior texture. The company’s approach relies on koji-based fermentation to provide “neutral sensory profile and oil- and water-binding capacity,” which allows for “dairy-level taste and creaminess” while dropping five or more additives from typical vegan recipes.

He highlights the technical advantages this can deliver: “The packed fibres in our biomass align to form the fine network that gives traditional dairy its body. One recent prototype matched premium dairy texture with just eight ingredients versus the ~14 typically used in vegan recipes.”

SVZ sees plant-based ice creams as an evolving market opportunity. Cerstiaens notes that while plant-based remains a niche proposition in some regions, the format is “ripe for innovation” and is seeing rising appeal in Asia, where 32% of consumers in China say they are reducing their dairy intake. 

He also points to the mainstreaming of vegan and flexitarian lifestyles globally: “Consumers have moved from seeing plant-based foods as a niche ‘better-for-you’ substitute to viewing them as a full-fledged source of indulgence — expecting the same rich taste and creamy texture they once associated only with dairy.”

Novel formats, flavors and premiumization

Manufacturers are also betting on novel formats and flavor innovation to drive differentiation and sustain category excitement.Plant-based ice cream is on the rise as consumers increasingly demand animal-free products.

SVZ’s Cerstiaens outlines a market increasingly defined by inventive shapes, textures, and collaborations: “Novel flavours and formats, like chef collaborations, ice cream bites, sandwiches, and donut-shaped frozen desserts, are keeping consumers engaged with the category across the board.”

He cites examples such as Häagen-Dazs x Pierre Hermé’s macaron ice cream and Magnum Utopia Double Cherry with layered sour cherry and berry purees as proof that indulgent experiences remain central — even as consumers demand healthier, more transparent formulations.

Valio, too, is responding to this demand for both innovation and versatility. Plathin explains that their solutions support a wide range of formats:

“Manufacturers need solutions that perform across a wide range of formats, scoopable pints, gelato, and soft ice.” She notes that lactose-free claims are not just for those with intolerance but are increasingly sought after by consumers looking for easier-to-digest options in all formats.

Regional diversity also drives innovation. Cerstiaens observes that “fruit and chocolate flavor will hold its place as the core innovation battleground,” but expects the rise of global flavors to “connect consumers with their national heritage and cosmopolitan lifestyles through regional ingredients and world-dessert flavours.” 

He points to mango-flavored ice cream enrobed in white chocolate in Asia, and Oatly’s moon-shaped pomelo and dark plum vegan offering, as signs of how texture and appearance innovations are being used to stand out.

Sustainability and environmental impact

No discussion of modern ice cream formulation is complete without addressing sustainability — a non-negotiable consideration for both dairy and plant-based producers.

Valio places sustainability at the center of its development strategy. Plathin says: “Valio’s Climate Program aims to achieve a zero carbon footprint for milk by 2035. More than 2,200 farms calculated the carbon footprint of their milk using the Carbo Environmental calculator.” 

She adds that Valio is targeting 100% recyclable packaging by 2030, with 80% of all packaging materials coming from renewable or recycled sources.

Nosh.bio, meanwhile, sees a clear environmental argument in reformulating plant-based ice cream to reduce energy requirements. Lino explains that its ingredient enables ice cream with “higher melting points,” which can reduce costs and emissions associated with refrigeration. 

“Imagine that a parlor can keep the ice cream at temperatures that are 4, 5 degrees higher. This ends up with significant cost savings by the end of the year. Do that for the entire industry and you have a massive cost reduction, with a huge environmental benefit.”

Such sustainability-driven innovation is increasingly part of the brand narrative for manufacturers targeting ethically minded consumers, particularly as awareness grows around dairy’s greenhouse gas footprint and the energy intensity of cold-chain distribution.