Food retail in detail: How is innovation and clean label boosting business
23 Apr 2024 | Ingredion
Join industry thought leaders from UK retailer Sainsbury's and Ingredion, a global food solutions provider, in a conversation about the reasons for growth of retail brands, the current state of business and key priorities for the next 18 months.
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Good morning or good afternoon, depending on where you are listening from, and welcome to this Food Ingredients first hosted webinar.
I'm Liz Green, the moderator for the webinar from Ingredient, a global food solutions provider.
I'm a senior journalist at CNS Media, which is also the publisher of The World of Food Ingredients.
Now, before we get started, some housekeeping.
Shortly after the presentation, I will be hosting a Q&A session with our listeners.
You can submit any questions to be answered through the Q&A engagement tool.
Any questions we don't have time to respond to during today's session can be answered via email following the live broadcast.
The webinar will also be available on demand on Food ingredientsfirst.com in the coming days.
So as mentioned, today's webinar is brought to you by Ingredient.
The webinar is entitled Food Retail in Detail, How Is Innovation and Clean Label Boosting Business.
We have a nice variation of speakers joining us today who will share insights into the evolving needs of food retail and how specific ingredients impact purchases.
Thought leaders from UK retailer Sainsbury's and Ingredient will discuss the reasons for the growth of retail brands, the current state of business, and key priorities for the months ahead.
So joining us today is James Campbell, director of fresh product innovation at Sainsbury's.
James has worked as a chef in Michelin starred establishments across the world.
In London, he was head pastry chef at Gary Rhodes's restaurant and the award-winning Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Knightsbridge.
He later took a role as chief dessert developer for M&S before beginning work as head of food at Greencore and then moving on to his current role at Sainsbury's.
Next, I'd like to welcome Daniel Haley, global platform leader for clean and simple ingredients at Ingredient.
Daniel has 25 years of experience in commercial leadership roles in specialty ingredients for FMCG, food and beverage companies, and is an industry expert in clean label ingredients.
He has expertise in business development, sales, marketing, management, and commercialization.
Finally, we have Celine Limongi, consumer and market analyst at Anova Market Insights.
Celine is a registered dietitian and has a Master's in Health Food Innovation Management from Maastricht University.
As a market analyst at Enova Market Insights, Celine is now applying her knowledge in nutrition and food innovation to help her clients on their innovation journey.
So with introductions complete, I will hand it over to Celine, who will start by sharing some insights into clean label trends in retail.
Thank you, Elizabeth.
So, before we get started, I first wanted to give a little bit of a definition about clean labeling.
So definitely, clean labeling has evolved over time.
The first term kind of coined in the 1980s, where it was all about the removal of undesirable or unhealthy additives.
So it was driven by a health concern that consumers had.
And now we're seeing kind of a shift or an addition to it in the sense that now consumers are more interested or associating clean labels with transparency as as trust.
So that's definitely evolving and it's playing a role with sustainability.
So there's been a demand for greater environmental responsibility as we're seeing that consumers are more having a bigger concern about environmental.
Issues.
So there's definitely a balance between not only health health concerns, but also sustainable concerns when it comes to clean labeling.
And another thing that we're seeing nowadays is the growing movement towards, ultra processing, and I think a lot of consumers are a bit confused in terms of what products can be considered ultra-processed or not, and the knowledge behind it.
And this is where clean labeling can really play a role in helping educate consumers to make healthier choices, especially for things that may be a bit more processed.
So if we're diving a little bit deeper and we're looking in terms of the definition of clean labeling within regions, we see that there are some differences.
So in general, Asia and Europe are the ones that have the growing use of more of the established clean labels positionings that we see, but we're also seeing that environmental claims are definitely expanding and demonstrate a bit better closer association between clean label and sustainable labeling.
And not only do we see environmentally friendly positionings taking more a place in clean labeling, but we're noticing that within Europe there are some differences.
So when looking, for example, in France, we see that consumers put environmentally friendly as the number one meaning for clean labeling, whereas in Germany we see some more established clean label positioning such as without artificial ingredients, non-GMO, and so forth.
Now, as we know, there has been an increase in financial pressures when it comes to either the housing crisis that we're all facing, as as inflation and other political instability.
So although we have financial pressures, consumers are still willing to pay more for clean labels, so around 5%.
Of all consumers are willing to pay more for clean labels, more specifically Asian countries, and less likely in North America.
So this interest, I think, lies with the reason that in general consumers have a greater interest in terms of putting health of the planet first as as their own health.
And I think since COVID, We're noticing that health concern is really at the top of people's agenda, and so they're trying to use clean labeling as a forefront to make better and healthier decisions.
We're also noticing that consumers believe that brands should also put environmental factors as a driving factor when it comes to new product development, and as we're noticing that clean label plays more role in sustainability and environmental sustainability, then that can also come hand in hand.
As mentioned also before, we see that transparency is key when it comes to clean labeling, and it's a growing interest in consumers.
And so when consumers were asked if they agree or disagree with the statement we see at the bottom here, which is, I expect companies to be transparent about Raw material sources.
We're noticing that almost 3 in 4 consumers agree with this in 2023, and this is continuing to, to evolve with, with the years.
So there's definitely a growing interest in things that are more transparent, not only about ingredient transparency, but we're also seeing in terms of outsourcing.
Sourcing, and, sorry, in terms of sourcing, so sourcing of an ingredient, sourcing of the product, and the consumers are more interested in simple, packaging and simple communication on packaging, and this can be also related to being able to trace, the origin of the product.
And in general, when we look at clean labeling, overall in Europe, it's definitely a big part.
So 1 in 3 of new product launches carries some kind of clean labeling, and then the split is a bit different depending on the type of clean labeling, but it's definitely a big part of the innovation.
Diving a little bit deeper, we are also seeing private label, growing and the opportunities in terms of clean labeling.
So I think in terms of retail, it's a good opportunity for consumers to purchase products that they believe is good for like value for money, especially now with inflation.
So there's definitely opportunities in retail space and private label to use clean label claims to help consumers make better choices.
When looking at West Europe in general, the evolution or the growth in products with clean labeling.
Is 6% for a private label, and we're looking at different countries like, for example, the UK, we see still a growth of 2%.
And diving a little bit deeper, looking at companies, there's definitely growing companies such as Sainsbury's with a Kegar of 26%, but other, other companies are also taking, taking place.
So we have some nice examples of ways to incorporate clean labeling directly on pack, for, consumers to, to have that communication information available.
Lastly, looking again into sustainability, so Europe is a big driving force in this space, and more specifically in terms of zero carbon or carbon.
Neutral in this case.
So, looking at the last 5 years, we see that the growth in number of launches in terms of carbon neutrality has grown quite exponentially, and most of the launches have been taking place in Europe.
And the KGAR is quite high with a KGAR of 50%.
So there's definitely opportunities incorporating clean labeling in terms of more sustainable approaches such as carbon neutrality, which can be used, in directly on pack like the product example on the, on the right.
So now just in general looking at the other types of clean labelings, so when we look at organic claims, so organic claims are definitely the most advanced in Europe.
But there are some differences between East and West Europe.
West Europe definitely shows the highest penetration, but due to the saturation of the market and the cost of living, some of the launches have been, a bit down.
The East Europe, on the other hand, has seen some increase in organic claims.
When it comes to GMO-free, it's a lot lower in Europe, but I think this is just because the exposure to GM GM farming is less compared to other regions.
And what's interesting what we see is for no additives and preservatives, in terms of the penetration of this claim, it's slightly declined in Europe, but it's because , more brands now are trying to shift this information and are trying to use making more informal, informal claims.
So things like, contains no junk or has no bad stuff can help also consumers have a clear sense of clean labeling, what it means, and it's more easy to understand.
And last but not least, just a little bit of what's next in terms of clean labeling.
So as mentioned, the, the balance between planet and health, so really finding an association between the two using environmental claims, but also the typical clean label positionings that we know to really complement each other.
And then the clean but cheap, this is going with the cost of living and so forth, and that it's important for consumers to still go towards clean labeling, and we see that despite the financial pressures they're still willing to pay more for these and this is Where the retail space can really take opportunities in, for consumers to have a better value for money products.
And finally, it's all about also clarity and simplification.
So, finding ways for consumers to really understand the clean labeling correctly.
And I think this ends my presentation.
I will hand the floor to James and Danielle.
Thank you Celine, first of all, I think it's, it's great to see strong correlation between your data and what we find in our own proprietary study at Ingredient called Atlas all around consumer attitudes to labels and ingredients, so it couldn't be a better fit.
So James, hi, you and I have known each other for quite some time.
And I just wondered, you know, starting off, what, what is Sainsbury's approach to innovation, in particular in relation to clean label, kind of where do you see this going, in your particular case?
Hi Daniel, hi everybody, thank you Daniel, thanks for the, thanks for the time to talk to you, it's always great to talk to you and talk about this really important subject.
I think.
In terms of how clean labeling is going, it's, it's, it's one of many conversations we have, through our packaging, you know, and through the messaging or our packaging.
So a big part of my role is looking after the private label, so we, we had a full responsibility, to make sure we, we, we do that job as as we can, and we use companies like yourselves, Dan, for grid on who we've known each other for years who are, indirect.
Through our supply base also to help us with that type of thing, so I think in terms of the expectation for clean labeling, you know, there's twofold really.
What is our expectation as a business to be as transparent as we possibly can, and I think the customers renew the expectation to look much more at the back of the pack and what's in their products and you know that that that manifests its way its way in lots of different ways of.
You know, if you're, if you're looking at personal nutrition or you're following certain apps that give you more detail when you scan the barcode of what's in the product, so the customer expectation for clean labeling, I think, is much higher than it's ever been, and again, we have a real personal responsibility ourselves to be as transparent as possible for our customers, as as some of the aforementioned.
Things we have to talk about in terms of, you know, make sure our customers are aware of our carbon neutral plans and our recyclability and what's in our products from our front of front of pack kind of traffic light labeling and stuff, so it's a really important part of the messages and I think customers are more and more choosing products on the strength of that.
Thanks James, a couple of years ago Iridion did a study with, with retailers including those in the UK Sainsbury's was part of that.
What was clear was that retailers don't typically have a, a defined active clean label strategy, they, they recognize it's association with health, and how important that is to consumers, but it's not necessarily an active strategy per se.
Would you say that's changed in relation to Sainsbury's or how how do you see that now?
Yeah, I definitely think it has again based on customer demand and I think also for for choice, right?
I think ultimately we know certain products will have , certain ingredient stakes because of the type of products they are, and that will range all the way through our store, you know, we are a, we're a proud kind of full shop retailer, so we know we need to offer a great choice for our customer, and we need to do lots of different things in terms of nutrition, value, premium, you know, core products and so on and so forth as our customers like everybody's got a lot of things they have to deal with in their life at the minute.
There's a lot of things going on which, which, which sometimes put a bit of pressure on their, on their purse strings when it comes to shopping, so.
Yeah, I think that again and back to that point, especially when it comes to functional ingredients for wellness and health and personal health, you know, people's awareness due to, you know, the gift of social media and our personal devices we're just so much better informed than we have been.
So yeah, I think it's definitely much more up on our agenda and it's something we take very seriously, specifically from an own label perspective, to make sure we do that job as transparently as we possibly can.
Great, I, I now call out some work that we did, in Q4 of last year, talking to a number of manufacturers in the industry.
This is work that we did globally, and many of those included private label manufacturers, and, and we looked at the importance for them, Today, in certain areas, and what's what's critical and seems to come through very strongly is this sense of, needing to offer value for money but also respect the consumer's need for an enjoyable eating experience.
And then reflecting that health side of which clean label is a key part, right, so you, you can see here the, the priorities, superior taste and texture, so the quality of the product really kind of shining through most strongly, the value for money and the health benefits and claims similarly scored and not, not far below that clean label and affordability, so, I think you know we've seen in the data Sainsbury's very active in these areas, you know what, what would you call out as a key priority for yourselves?
Yeah, , we, we're in, we're in the joyful food business, right?
It's a bit, it's front and center of our new strategy that we that we launched this year, and I think we've got to make food joyful for, for more people, and it's, it doesn't have to be a compromise at meal times, even though we, we service, very functional functional products as in convenient products or products that you can pick up and take home and, you know, we have sufficient life in your fridge for you to.
To, you know, to feed yourselves and your family all week, so, but we, we need to do that with a personality and a bit of joyfulness.
So, definitely choice, superior taste and quality, you know, I would agree with that, that ranking, it's really important that we get that part right and, you know, in the UK here we're we're in a very competitive landscape when it comes to, You know, the shop are coming to us.
They've got some, some of our competitors doing a great job here, so it's really important we keep ourselves front and center, and we're doing a, it's about, you know, I think at the beginning of the slides, our, our, our CEO Simon's made a great quote there about the, the importance, you know, of us to have innovation in the center of what we do.
So yes, very much so, I think, value for money, and that means lots of things to lots of people.
And I would say value versus cost, you know, value should be what you what you're willing to pay for it, whether that's 100 pounds or 1 pound, you know, fundamentally, but again, health and clean label.
As I mentioned in my answer earlier, it's becoming so important to our customer and, and as it should be, you know, it really should be, I think it's, it's a really important part of our, our portfolio and how we bring that together, so yeah, it's, it's, it's probably pretty much in that order.
I've seen some, I've seen some other IGD type of research which tells you a similar kind of story and, and that's certainly how we approach our business here.
The other thing I guess to add in there is our, our responsibility to the planet, you know, our carbon responsibility and our and our recyclable responsibility and the things we're doing in our community are also probably help on that list.
Yep, absolutely, sustainability would come slightly further down the list, but it's it's almost like the icing on the cake, right, for a for a number of consumers.
Yeah, and I think just, yeah, go on, I was just gonna add in quickly I think you kinda, you know.
The the choice, the customer is expects all of those things, right, and they'll they'll look for it in a certain order, but the one note won't necessarily trump the next.
So I think you're absolutely right, sustainability is a good example where it will come further down, but responsibility very much sits with us to do that job for the customer as part of that choice network network.
Alright, so if we, if we think then of the, about the next 12 months, right, and the areas that you're really driving with your supply base, again in the study we, we did, we looked at the importance for manufacturers of certain attributes that ingredients carry, that they use in their formulations and recipes, and what's coming through particularly strongly is natural, it may be associated of course with the, the noise around ultra processed foods, but, Naturality, it's also reflected in our own studies, the most important, the most compelling message for consumers of all that can be made, and increasing it would seem in importance to manufacturers, it's up 10% on the previous year, organic also interestingly in these times increased quite significantly, so I wondered, you know, what, what's your focus in terms of claims that you want to make around ingredients on your products.
Yeah, it's a really good question.
Natural does very much still have a big part in our business, and, and, and it's hugely important, and natural can come in many forms, I think.
Clearly from areas like our produce business, business where you're, where you're buying whole head fruit and whole head vegetables, where you, that is as natural as you can, as you can find it all the way through to added value where we're more recipe development.
Where we're seeing some real growth is in some of that trade up premiumization and more health forwards products, so people are really recognizing that, I think as an output, I think you're absolutely right.
So it's definitely something that's still very much on our path, the things we'll continue to focus on and push on.
I think the other part, is really about how we kind of demystify.
So your point on ultra processed foods is a really good one and a very personal one.
You know, again this is all about balance and choice, right?
I think sometimes trying to focus on these things in isolation is very difficult because you've got a lot of things to do as I mentioned earlier.
So, using our, our clean label decks and to make them as clean and as transparent as possible.
It's a big part of that, you know, you, you take out the store cupboarded ingredients, when you break them down on an ingredient deck, they become 3 or 4 things, whereas in fact it might be vinegar, for example, that you're using.
When you break that down as an ingredient deck, it spirals out to 3 or 4 things, so trying to make, whatever we can.
As much as possible trying to use our backup pack as as store covered as possible and as as functional as possible as we can is really, really important.
So yeah, I think continuing to be transparent with our customers, continuing to excite and innovate and you know, lead the market in certain places where we think we can, will be front and center of what we're trying to do, but doing it in a transparent way is is the most important.
Great.
And you know, it's really interesting to reflect that of all the markets that we study, the UK seems to have the highest familiarity with clean label, and in fact I reflect since I first started working in this space that you know nowadays in the UK many products they're clean label, but the front of pack claims don't call it out, it's almost become er er table stakes in many cases, and of course it aligns very, very as you've pointed out with health, with sustainability.
And the goals around that, so, you know, over, over the next 18 months, you know which product categories would you say?
You're giving most focus to in terms of bringing these attributes forward.
Again, where, where it's less obvious for the customer, right, so as I mentioned, and this may be too obvious an answer, but it is like added value recipe dishes and such like where we know.
You know, that's where our customer probably would think they want, they want more transparency, so that would still very much be part of our, part of our mission.
I think celebrating sort of look at it as like plant-based is a good example, we're seeing the transition moving from kind of analog flat plant-based to, to people eat more plants, right, which is a really good thing.
You know, we all wanted to eat more, we all wanted to be more plant-based, we kind of forgot that we've got lots of vegetables and fruits that will do that job in the first instance, so it's certainly something we're looking more into as we start to develop a bit more, and we did a bit more of that in some of our Christmas ranges this year, so we expect more, more in that space for us.
But yeah, I think again it's, it's without repeating myself too many times, it is really about how we communicate this and we, we show up properly in the 80s, but it might be harder to see for the customer, you know, it's pretty much it's a lot more straightforward than a food to go salad than it is in a, in a ready meal in a candi for example.
So you know, I think where we need to, that's what we'll be more transparent.
Alright, and we touched briefly on the topic of ultra processed food.
I, I think a week doesn't go by without one article or another in the, in the industry press or or in the media on this topic.
Clearly it is having an influence on consumers, and we see, we see really there are 3 countries in the world really, where this is, having an impact on consumer sentiment, it's the US, the UK, France, and potentially Germany as.
How do you see this particular theme at Sainsbury's, and, you know, what, what are your intentions in relation to it?
So it's a very interesting one, ultra processed foods, because again, like a lot of things these days with the power of social media, it's got an opportunity to be inflamed very quickly, I think.
You know, preserving and processing food isn't new, you know, we've been doing it for hundreds of years, right, in some way, shape or form, you know.
That it's interesting to see the rise of gut health and the rise of things like kimchis and pickles, they are, they are ancient, ancient processes that I've had for a long time.
Now I'm not suggesting that they're they're ultra processed, but you know, when you look at things like cured meats and such like that, those practices have been going around for a very long time and some of them fall into an ultra.
Process parameters.
So we've just got to be really transparent with what we mean, I think by process.
So listen, we're very aware of that, you know, I think this ties in nicely to be more transparent and clean with your labels and then the customer has a choice, right, because it's all about choice and it's all about capturing and mess in the rounds of all the things you have to do because.
You know, if you look at it in pure isolation, you will forget all the other things that you have to do as a retailer, right?
You'll forget that you need to nourish the nation, you know, a sustainable price that everyone can afford.
You need to make your food super tasty and, and, you know, and delicious and all the things we've seen in that decision hierarchy that you showed a couple of slides ago.
So we hear a bit of noise on it and, and clearly, you know, we're eyes wide open to how we know this is it's kind of captured in the media and there are certain factions that are very noisy about it and we we we very much take that seriously but we'll we'll put it into the basket of all the other things we do and look at it with the same lens, I think it's probably the right way to do it.
I think it's very difficult these days, you know, you, you, you need to be over all of this as a retailer, it is an absolute responsibility.
And I think we are, you know, but as I say, we're over it in the same level of context and detail we are with all the other things that we need to do to give our customers ultimate choice so they can make the decision themselves.
Yeah, and I think when when you reflect on the topic and think more deeply about.
What minimally processed means to a consumer as opposed to ultra processed, the reality is it's, it's yet another driver of clean labeling, right, it, it, it, it pulls us back to ingredients that are natural, they're not additives and so on, it's, it's just another label in effect for the clean label movement.
Exactly that.
And again it's choice, right?
Ultimately it's choice at the end of the day.
The most transparent you can be, the more options you give people to make their own choices.
So when, when you think of, when you think of the work that you're doing, you've mentioned plant based is a category where you're focusing as an example, where do you see the, the biggest challenges delivering these attributes into the food, you know, what, what really are the hurdles that you've got to overcome?
I don't think we'll get to all of them in a short space of time.
I think the, the biggest things that probably keep us awake at the minute is the kind of socioeconomic climate that we have around the world.
We have a lot of things that are out with the control of, of many people that affect many countries, you know, we've got.
You know, this won't be a massive surprise to anybody who watches the news, but what's happening in various parts of the world in terms of conflicts, you know, obviously it's a massive, massive bearing on supply chain and such like that, that's an infinite risk that we need to manage.
Definitely I think as we, again, the breadth, the customer we offer to have been really clear what their expectation is and what we need and what they what they need really from a choice and an innovation point of view.
Is is is very much something that we keep an eye on an awful lot.
Sustainability is super important and we've all got a right rather than, you know, rather than a choice to do that.
So we need to make sure that we do that really.
And also, it is like responsive recyclability is a good example here where we're trying to do a lot to do the best we can here, but then.
It's having the right infrastructure around us at local level to support some of that is challenging, right?
So I think it's been been really clear and honest it just moves as it does rightfully as we we were a bit more investigative than we've ever been.
You know, as a nation of people, we, we find things a bit more.
They kind of come up the channels much quicker because of things like social media.
So we need to make sure we respond proportionately when that happens, take it very seriously and do the right thing.
So I think it's trying to keep abreast of all those things, but certainly, you know, climate change feels like a big one for me.
We've always something we need to do here and.
You know, the landscape of our food system will look fundamentally different in the next 50 100 years unless we, unless we act now, so it's definitely something that we keep an eye on very much so and play a big part on doing.
Or one or one making sure it eats , right, at the same time, exactly that, exactly that.
Alright James, thank you very much for that, that was a great discussion, appreciate your your time here, and that now takes us then into our question and answers.
Very interesting presentations from our experts and speakers so far.
This is Liz Green once again from Food Ingredients First.
Thank you to all of the speakers and everyone involved.
Next, we have an interactive Q&A session with our listeners and speakers.
Some great questions have already been sent in, so thank you in advance.
So our first question is for Daniel, and Daniel, the question is, it seems.
Companies do consumer research linked to clean label.
What evidence do you have that your insights are in line with actual consumer choice?
Daniel, over to you.
Yeah, thanks, great question.
So what I'd say is that first of all I'd start off by saying, It's so important that the research has depth and historical depth as , and we're fortunate at Ingredient that we've been studying the attitudes of consumers into kind of claims and ingredients for, since 2009, really, and we've talked to over 70,000 consumers in that time around the world.
What's really interesting is they're very consistent in the way that they respond and express those attitudes.
So while you do see some shifts in certain ingredients, which usually is tied to perception around sustainability or a safety issue that emerges, most ingredients, it's very consistent in the way that they respond.
So that's one part.
And then I think the other part is, is really getting down into the detail of, you know, how a customer responds to a claim in an ingredient on the packaging itself.
And so in the very latest study that we've done, we've actually been exploring the associations that consumers make with ingredients and claims when they see them on a particular packaged product, and that for us is, you know, kind of one step further, and we do see differences when you do that in the way that they interact with certain elements, and that's a new piece of research we'll be bringing forward to the industry very shortly, but exciting findings.
OK, fantastic.
Thank you very much, Danielle.
So our next question is for Celine, and the question is, is there a regional difference between a consumer in Europe and those in other countries around the world when it comes to clean label?
I am particularly interested in the French market.
Celine, maybe you can.
Insights on that.
Yes, of course.
Thank you for the good question.
So, in terms of just looking at regions, we see that, Europe and Asia are really the, the two biggest regions to continue to see growth in the use of established clean label positionings.
More specifically, we see that, In terms of the Asian region, most consumers have environmental friendly as the kind of the top meaning of clean labeling, whereas the other regions have more of the traditional and put no additives or no preservatives as the number one, definition when it comes to what clean labeling means to them.
But we're also seeing that environmental claims are expanding, which demonstrates a bit, a bit of a closer association between, clean and sustainable labeling.
So it's, it's kind of finding a balance between, putting the health of the planet, but also the health of the population, together.
And then when we, dive deeper into Europe and we look at the different countries, and, more specifically in France, so in general, the French consumers, really put, environmental claims as a more important, claim for them when it comes to clean labeling.
And in general, we see, for example, that French consumers, when it comes to what they want to see brands and companies, to do more when it comes to environmental and social, causes, they really put nature protection or anything related to, environmental sustainability as the number one reason compared to other countries in Europe.
So there's definitely that focus in, sustainability and environmental, in France when it comes to, clean labeling.
Mhm.
OK, fantastic, thank you very much for that.
OK, so our next question is, which problem or problems related to clean label are you trying to solve now?
James, this is a question directed for you.
Hi, thanks very much, a good question.
So problems we're trying to solve now, I guess it's, it's similar to what I, what I mentioned earlier really in the sense of being mindful, of, of how we operate, right, and and how forensic we are on this as a business, you know, we'd already, you know, and, and I appreciate there's different listings of minimal processed all the way through to ultra processed, but as I said before, it's about transparency, right, so we're, we're making sure we're keeping very transparent.
And our labels and and using clean deck ingredients as much as we possibly can, we don't permit the use of artificial flavor or MSG or anything like that in our products, so we're already very transparent and clear about that.
So I think in terms of that, it's trying to bottle that down into where are we worried about this again it goes back to my earlier comment, but, but we look at this in the round of everything, so, being whatever we can, you know, not, not using what we don't, you know, as I say, we don't, we don't permit the use of artificial colors and for things we.
Be as transparent as possible in our in our guidelines, and I think it's just keeping abreast with all the the changes in this as we move forward and trying to keep our customers calm and and and up to speed on some of the things that they will hear which don't necessarily come from very reliable sources, so giving people choice and transparency is the way we deal with it really.
Mhm, definitely.
OK, great, interesting.
Our next question now, we're gonna go back to Daniel, and the question is, how can we enable manufacturers to make consumer preferred clean label claims and deliver on nutrition?
Daniel, over to you.
Yeah, I, I think there is already a wave of innovation on the way, right?
We've already seen it in the industry for some time where companies are looking to develop what I'd call multifunctional ingredients.
It's about 18 months ago to 2 years ago now that Ingredient launched its first citrus fiber, which is a texturizing ingredient, but at the same time it enhances dietary fiber.
And you know, we're about to launch another product of that nature as , you know, taking a waste stream, turning it into a dietary fiber that also provides functionality in food, and I think that that's one part of doing it, and the other part of course is thinking.
More laterally about the, the eating experience of foods that have healthy propositions, and when you look at overall liking scores for many foods that are considered healthier, they tend to in some cases for the consumer be lower than the alternatives, and I think the industry is working ingredient certainly is working really hard to try to change that, right, to look at where there are deficiencies in the eating experience of healthy foods, improve their nutrition.
But at the same time, make the texture something delicious and improve that liking.
Mhm, mhm.
OK, super fantastic.
Now moving on to Sole.
We have a question from a listener, and the question is, what are consumers' expectations for transparency and how can that impact clean labeling?
Sole.
Thanks again, nice question.
I think transparency is definitely something we're seeing over and over again, especially when it comes to, so consumers, what are they expecting?
I think lately there's been a lot of information about this kind of information overload that we're seeing on tops on packaging where, where consumers are confused on what they should read and there's sometimes there's a lot of information and so finding a way to be transparent and clear and simple is really essential for, for consumers to understand that, and this can take, can come into different shapes and sizes.
I think it can be important to To show the transparency of ingredients, the traceability of the sourcing of the ingredients, and so forth.
And this is where clean labeling can play a huge role.
It can really show, consumers, how transparent the company is when it comes to also having or containing natural ingredients and so forth.
So, really finding a balance between using clean labeling to, to expose this transparency, directly on pack to, to consumers.
OK, thank you, Celine.
So keeping in the theme of transparency.
Our next question is for James, and the question is, would strict regulations on manufacturers bring transparency in food labeling claims?
Thank you, so what strict regulations, do we go through with the manufacturers?
As I mentioned, we've got some certain products that that we don't permit whatsoever, and, and we have a code of practice that we, we go through with all of our, our, our own label suppliers that we, we make sure we're very strict with, and we, and we've quite a tight policy on that.
With our, with our technology teams and, and, and, and it's pretty far reaching and it's quite vast, right?
I think we are, we've got one of the highest technical standards in the, in, in the, in the label UK food market, to, to be fair, so there's a lot on terms of raw materials they can use and they can't use.
There's a lot on terms of the, the manufacturing standard they appeal to and a lot about traceability in terms of the raw materials they take.
So probably too many to mention now, but that there's quite a vast, vast suite of these that are very, very heavily policed from our perspective.
So you really have to be, you know, we're very proud of the partnerships we have with our manufacturing, partners, and you know, we, we, in some instances we'll have very long standing commercial relationships with some of the best in that industry.
So and and through our farming standards as , we have, we have a real incentive for, for our farmers to, to act right, treat, treat their people right and control their supply chain.
And we incentivize that through some of our commercial payment channels and whatnot.
So yeah, you really have to be top of your game to be one of our manufacturers, but then it's a real partnership, I think when you, when you follow those codes of practice.
Definitely.
OK, sounds really interesting, thank you.
We have time for maybe one or two questions now.
So James, I'm gonna come back to you because we've had an interesting question come in, from a listener, which is with, with a huge proportion of retailer ranges being ultra processed foods, how do you see the movement against ultra processed changing the landscape of products in the UK?
That's a really interesting question.
Yeah, I think it, again it's, it's understanding the personal definition of ultra process because it covers a variety of products and I know the definition is fairly, is fairly standard across as I say, from minimally processed to ultra processed so.
And I guess it's understanding again what you want from these types of products, right, because in some instances, you know, when we're using Clean deck as much as possible, there'll be elements of preservatives and whatnot in there that gives the product shelf life, right, so there's an infinite benefit at home, right, and how you use these products and.
There's a benefit and food waste and such like, you know, so there is no doubt that that that there's a benefit to some of these products if consumed in the right way.
I think it depends really on how the weight of this continues, cos I, I, I feel, I feel, I sound like a bit of a broken record, but, but the key thing here is choice, right?
So if that's something that's very important to you, then we have offers in our store that allow you to, to choose around that because they're there purposely for a certain reason, and generally for, you know.
Yeah, it's up to the end consumer themselves, I guess, is, our, our, I guess, I guess our motive here as a, as a large retailer is to provide that choice and to give plenty of options for people.
So, as I mentioned in my, from my question with Dan earlier about anything from wholehead produce, you know, all the way through the scale, it's really important that we offer that.
So I think from our point of view, making sure we have enough choice for all customers who come into our store to give them ultimately the decision that they make and.
You know, give them enough breadth in our range to allow them to do that.
Mhm.
Definitely.
OK, fantastic, thank you very much.
So I think this will be our final question now, and the question is for Daniel.
The question is, what is the next labeling claim?
Become prominent within clean labeling.
Danielle, over to you.
I think we just heard from James there some of the challenges around ultra-processed foods and I'd say that given it it's such an ambiguous term and it really focuses on the processing side rather than the the nutrition of the food itself, I, I think you know we'll see actually consumers.
Turn to, and we see this in our research, turn to focus more on natural, right?
And in in the countries that have a claim.
Regulated or they have guidelines around natural claims, you really see that taking hold and consumers giving that focus, and in our research, it's the claim, consumers will pay the most for, right?
It's probably one of the more challenging claims to, to hit, but as innovation comes through and new products like, like a new cornstarch we've just developed right and launched.
These things can support natural claims and we expect our customers to, to turn those, turn to those to, you know, demonstrate more value to their consumers and in a way address this topic of ultra processed foods at the same time.
Mhm.
Fantastic.
OK, thank you very much.
That's about all we have time for today.
Thank you to everyone involved in today's webinar, from Ingredient, Sainsbury's, and Enova Market Insights.
Before we sign off, I'd also like to let you know that all questions that we didn't have time to respond to will be answered via email.
You can also keep up with the latest developments in industry news at food ingredientsfirst.com, where you can also sign up for our newsletters.
Thanks again for joining.
Goodbye.
