In July, Chrissy Teigen asked her 2.4 million Twitter followers to help decide the focus of her next cookbook. One suggestion was clean eating, which sparked lively discussion among her followers and the celebrity. In response to a fan indicating that “clean doesn’t = healthy,” Teigen indicated her definition of “clean” means not eating Velveeta.
Teigen’s Twitter chat highlighted the challenge with the growing trend behind clean labels: consumers are demanding foods with fewer, pronounceable and recognizable ingredients, yet there isn’t a consistent definition of the term clean label or known specific health advantage to eating these types of foods. In a recent discussion with registered dietitians who work in the retail grocery industry, they recommended a focus on clear labels instead of clean ones.
Defining Clear Labels
Foods with clear labels contain ingredients that each have an essential function in the product, whether it’s adding flavor, making a product rise or providing nutrition. The manufacturer only uses ingredients that are absolutely necessary.
Take a seemingly simple product like cream cheese, for example. Arla cream cheese has four ingredients (cream, skim milk, salt and cheese culture), each with a function in the product. A culture is added to cream and skim milk to transform it into cream cheese, giving it its texture and flavor. The curd that is created is then filtered to make it thicker, and salt is added for flavor. All four ingredients – cream, skim milk, salt and cheese culture – have a clear function in the product. This greatly differs from Philadelphia Original cream cheese, which has thickeners carob and xanthan gum. When looking at the two, the Arla product would have the clear label.
Similarly, if you were looking for a clear label strawberry ice cream, you wouldn’t want to see raspberries or beet juice as ingredients, which would obviously be added for color. If the strawberries themselves don’t impart the desired color, the manufacturer could add more, use better strawberries, or explain to the consumer that it’s the flavor of the strawberries, not a specific pink color that matters in high-quality strawberry ice cream. Kids’ cereals can be made without bright colors as long as kids and their parents are willing to accept less vibrant colors in food.
While there is no legal definition of clean label, it typically references a list of “no” ingredients such as preservatives, additives and artificial ingredients. According to HealthFocus International, 41 percent of shoppers believe “preservative free” is important. Data from the International Food Information Council’s 2016 Food and Health Survey indicates more than 40 percent of consumers define a healthy lifestyle as one with “limited or no artificial ingredients or preservatives.”
In his book, “In Defense of Food,” Michael Pollan suggests consumers eat food products with no more than five ingredients. Consumers have adopted this philosophy as a part of their clean label definition. But would you want chili or lasagna made with only five ingredients? Both are complicated recipes with many ingredients, even if you make them from scratch, and are driven by the melding of seasonings, meats and vegetables. Both easily could be defined as having clear labels, even with longer ingredient lists, because each ingredient has a purpose in the final product.
Clear labels require consumers to better understand the nuances of food production. There isn’t a prescribed number of ingredients that is ideal on a product label or entire categories of additives that should be avoided. Food companies should be challenged to make foods using traditional processes and with only those ingredients that are essential to the product and that don’t compromise good nutrition.
This is clear label, not clean label.
Discloser: Annette Maggi is a nutrition consultant to a variety of food companies, including Arla.