Want to make a good food future? Here are 10 clean label ingredients for your consideration
At the IFT 2018 show, "clean label" was the show floor buzz. We found 10 ingredient suppliers cleaning up ingredient decks to serve Consumer 2.0.
![Want to make a good food future? Here are 10 clean label ingredients for your consideration Want to make a good food future? Here are 10 clean label ingredients for your consideration](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt09e5e63517a16184/blt3bd2ca96d99fe687/64ff1d96a1fde3dccde207b0/bean-flour-ingredient_0.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
Arla Food Ingredients has rolled out its Lacprodan TexturePro whey protein, which features extended softness (not overly chewy) and shelf life for bars—always a problem for water-loving protein.
Beneo has a line of rice starches, flours and proteins to replace titanium dioxide and modified food starches. This gluten-free rice starch has no chemical treatment so it’s a clean starch. It’s used for challenging food processes like high temperatures. These ingredients are particularly good for baby food, confectionery, baked goods and cereal. They can even improve the body in dairy and dairy alternatives.
California Natural Color is a spin-off from Ernest and Julio Gallo, the biggest wine makers in the world. They figured out a few years ago to take care of their waste stream by offering natural colors. Mostly for now these are in the red-purple part of the spectrum, though they just worked with a client to come up with a golden brown. Blue remains the holy grail, and we didn’t see any at the show but at shows like SupplySide West you can find a company or two that provides natural blue from algae.
Food Gard has a preservative and antimicrobial based on citrus extracts, replacing the dirty label sorbates and benzoates with a friendly label language of “citrus extract (as preservative).”
Kemin has botanical-based extracts that can help with microbial stability against insults like E. coli and salmonella, as well as helping with color and flavor and also as preservatives to extend shelf life. Fortium is its rosemary extract, Fortium AR is based on acerola, while Fortium GT is from green tea.
Kerry, which has gained fame recently in the nutrition space by acquiring platinum branded ingredient brands Wellmune and GanedenBC30, also is a global player in the straight-up food world. They have Accel, a cultured celery product that replaces traditional sodium nitrite salts in cured meats like sausages. Nitrites and nitrates—no bueno. Kerry also has TasteSense, which can cut sugar reduction up to 30 percent while still maintaining sugar’s taste, texture and mouthfeel—all that other functionality besides flat sweetness.
NuBana is a 100 percent whole fruit green banana flour that can replace flour or sugar as a bulking agent, and can also replace hydrocolloids in things like soup because of its high viscosity properties. It’s a nice waste-stream ingredient because 20 percent of all bananas are not used in markets because they are not the right size or shape. The company is able to pay farmers for 100 percent of the crop, not just 80 percent. So that’s a good-news story for the farmers in the banana republics. Also, it labels as gluten-free.
Ribus, another rice-based ingredient company, got its start as a clean label solution for supplements to replace magnesium stearate and silicon dioxide. Ribus has other supplements solutions that replace anti-caking flow agents and lubricants, which help on the production end of building supplements. And, since they’re made of rice, some of them even rate positive nutrition labeling for a bonus hit on the Supplements Facts panels. And upon request they can make them organic, non-GMO and kosher.
Wacker has clean label bakery solutions. Its plant fiber Cavamax can replace egg in bakery, at up to 40 percent less cost. It’s a soluble fiber starch derived from potatoes that works in three ways—as an emulsifier, as a stabilizer of gas bubbles and texture, and as a whipping agent.
Watson is another company with clean label bakery solutions. HiLec creates a stronger dough and replaces mono and diglycerides, sodium stearoyl lactylate as well as datum, which is a non-natural surfactant. This helps with the machinability of breads in production.
Watson is another company with clean label bakery solutions. HiLec creates a stronger dough and replaces mono and diglycerides, sodium stearoyl lactylate as well as datum, which is a non-natural surfactant. This helps with the machinability of breads in production.
"Clean label" is the industry jargon that represents ingredients replacing dirty label ingredients—the stuff from chemistry class, not what’s for dinner. The sodium benzoates. Magnesium stearates. Heck, even sugar, salt and fat.
The mainstream food world gathers its ingredient suppliers at the annual Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) show to showcase what's happening among food scientists working for Big Food. This year, we discerned a notable presence of companies presenting their clean label bona fides. Seems the modern consumer is looking for foods that have ingredients that look like foods. That's a good thing. Here are 10 companies paving the way.
About the Author(s)
You May Also Like