Fi Europe 2025: How ADM accelerates innovation in taste, nutrition & transparency
08 Dec 2025 | ADM
ADM’s Clara Faustina, product manager for Sweet Food Human Nutrition, shares how 2026 Flavor & Color Trends are reshaping product reformulation, from clean label challenges to balancing bold taste and authentic well-being. She discusses ADM’s full solutions pantry, the role of culinary and formulation experts in accelerating innovation, and the biggest opportunities ahead for brands striving to meet rising consumer expectations for nutrition, transparency, and exceptional flavor.
Foo drinks first reported from FI Europe 2025 in Paris.
We're here at the ADM stag with Clara Fustina, who is the senior marketing manager of Sweets goods.
Welcome to you.
So my first question, how are ADM's 2026 flavor and color trends like give me more and authentic -being, shaping your approach to product reformulation.
Great question, and thank you for giving me the chance to speak today.
Yeah, I think from these two trends, I would say it's.
The best of both worlds, right, because in the trend of give me more, we are talking more towards the flavor exploration, bold flavors, bold colors, globally inspired flavors, while authentic -being, of course, talks about how consumers want to focus more on their health.
They want to go back to being careful, care of themselves, and of course this brings back the topic of clean labor, for example, in which we have seen.
Sort of a shift in which consumers want to see more of the natural flavors, natural colors, or they want to see more fiber and more protein.
So I think it's been proven over and over again that all the consumers are paying attention to this, they are not accepting anymore that those products are, for example, inferior in taste compared to the indulgent ones.
So yes, I think it's really important that manufacturers balance these two aspects.
It's interesting.
And so what challenges do brands face when trying to deliver both clean labeled ingredients and great taste, and how does ADM help overcome those challenges?
Yeah, so, you know, product development itself is already a very complicated process.
It's tricky, and then when you try to change something to the other, it's always a challenge.
It's not like you are taking out something, bringing something new, and that ends with that.
Normally there's a sequence of consequences.
That comes with it.
So for example, if we are talking about replacing artificial flavors and colors with natural flavors and colors, for example, it's known that for example, natural ones will be more natural or milder as it is that it's not just about changing 1 to 1.
So we are talking now about adjustment of dosages, maybe the different formulation or when we are talking about sugar reduction, for example, it's known that sugar reduction is not.
Just replacing the sweetness, but it's also bringing back flavor, bringing back texture and mouth feel.
So that's where AM also can help a lot in helping manufacturers tackle these challenges because we don't only have the ingredients that can help bring those clean label attributes into the product, but we also have the technical capabilities.
Our technical team who work with these ingredients every day.
So, if we have the chance to talk with manufacturers about.
Their problems, challenges, then they can quickly give the solutions or their experiences with the product developers and then of course ultimately the goal is to bring our customers faster to the market in the product development process.
Can you explain more how ADM's full solutions pantry supports manufacturers and meetings rising consumer expectations, nutrition, and flavor?
Yes, of course.
So most of the time when I'm talking full solutions.
Pantry about ADM, it's not just about the ingredients.
So I'm talking about the whole team that comes behind all these ingredients.
So we can start from the insights, for example, we have a whole marketing team and consumer insights that are loaded, equipped with a lot of data, reports, knowledge about the market, and also about the ingredients which can help our customers or the brands to know what is the next big thing in food and beverages and what can a winning product look like.
For example, then it comes to making an actual formulation so we can talk about, OK, what can a winning product look like and then what can be the ingredients that support this winning product and then here comes then again our technical team to the picture because they are the people who are working with the ingredients every day.
They have come across various projects in their lives, work with a certain category or maybe even an expert of a certain ingredients.
So we are.
Talking here about, for example, application scientists, or we are talking about flavor creation or we are talking about culinary excellence.
So yeah, it's it's a lot of attributes that we can really help brands with because we are kind of like putting the pieces of the puzzle here from the marketing side, from the ingredients side, and of course also the development side until the end.
OK, and can you give us some examples of how your culinary and formulation experts do support manufacturers in me.
These rising demands for accelerated innovation, safety, nutrition.
Yes, of course.
So yes, we have culinary experts and also category experts which are coming from both the consumer insights side and also the technical side.
So from consumer insights point of view, we have a team which is observing the consumers, what is next in the market, what is important for the consumers and the market, the industry topics.
So it's.
That we are taking care of, we also provide trend predictions which can of course definitely help brands and manufacturers cater to the next generation of consumers.
And from the technical point of view, we have a culinary and application team which are very experienced.
They have more than 2030, 40, maybe 50 years of experience in applying ingredients into a certain category.
So we Talking food, beverages, pharma, dietary supplements, even animal nutrition, and we also have the ingredient experts that know deep into a certain ingredient, for example, flavor solutions or color solutions, proteins, health and wellness, microbiome solutions, sweetening solutions, and of course the culinary solutions that we are also providing here today on the stand.
It's very interesting.
And as a final question, where do you see the biggest opportunities for clean?
Labeling formulation in 2026 and beyond.
Yeah, great question.
So if I need to say the biggest opportunity, I would say it's to really cater to the needs of the consumer of seeing more of the goods, because that's the shift that we are seeing in terms of mindset.
So they really want to see more of the positive names on the products.
So I'm talking here about natural flavors, natural colors, adding fruits.
Vegetables, for example, and also things that are related like micronutrients, higher protein, higher fiber.
So I think that's where the biggest opportunities are because with this switch from making things more natural, more clean to the consumer's perception, then it also increases the appeal of the product itself and of course helps the product to win in the market.
Clara, thanks for your time today.
Enjoy the rest of the show.
Thank you.
