Can clean label plant-based meat succeed – summary
- Consumers reject ultra-processed foods and demand ingredient transparency
- Clean label means recognisable ingredients but not always additive-free
- Plant-based meat can be clean label using protein concentrates and natural flavour
- Brands like Beyond Meat and Heura already meet clean label standards
- Clear communication builds trust and boosts clean label product success
Can plant-based meat be clean label? I won’t leave you waiting – the answer to this question is, of course, yes.
With consumer backlash towards meat alternatives largely linked to a broader distrust of ultra-processed food, creating plant-based meat that is also clean label can put plant-based manufacturers in a good position.
Consumers distrust ultra-processed food
In recent years, there has been a broad-based downturn in the popularity of plant-based meat. Major mainstays such as Beyond Meat have struggled financially, and brands that have been more successful have branched out into plant-based products that do not mimic meat explicitly.
Why is this? One of the key reasons is the wider backlash against ultra-processed foods.
Consumers do not trust the food system: they want to know firsthand what goes into their food. A large part of this is driven by concerns that ingredients are not healthy, and that large food companies are stuffing products full of additives purely for profit-seeking reasons. Much of consumer desire for transparency stems from their concern that products are ultra-processed.
In many countries, such as the UK, ultra-processed foods dominate consumers’ food-related concerns.
Because plant-based meat and meat substitutes are often considered ultra-processed, they have suffered from this rejection of plant-based food. But how can plant-based food appeal more to these sceptical consumers? Can it be clean label?
What is clean label?
Clean label does not have a strict definition, explains Amy Williams, nutrition lead at food-focused think-tank The Good Good Institute (GFI) Europe.
However, it usually refers to products that are made from ingredients that consumers recognise. But the recognisability of the names on pack are not necessarily congruent with their ‘naturalness’.
Natural, clean-label foods and ingredients are becoming much more popular with consumers, who are even returning to scratch cooking as they become more sceptical of processing.
Yet the idea that unrecognisable ingredients are inherently unhealthy is “not always based on evidence”, says Williams. The focus should instead be on nutrition.
“A meaningful clean-label approach can be both more cost-effective and more nutritionally dense if it prioritises efficient, well-considered formulation: minimising unnecessary inputs, maximising the nutritional and functional qualities of raw ingredients, and delivering products that are both nutritious and affordable.”
How to get clean label plant-based meat
Despite its reputation, plant-based meat can be clean label, explains Williams.
In fact, in many instances, it already is. Numerous major plant-based brands, including Heura, Planted, This, La Vie, Juicy Marbles and Quorn, produce products that could fit the definition of clean label.
Beyond Meat, one of the key players in the plant-based sector, even achieved a certification from the non-profit Clean Label Project, for its Beyond Burger and Beyond Beef IV products. According to a Beyond Meat spokesperson, it is the first plant-based meat product to receive this certification.
Shifting towards a more clean-label plant-based product begins with the difference between protein isolates and concentrates, explains GFI’s Williams. Protein isolates are highly refined and consist almost entirely of protein. Concentrates, by contrast, contain other components from the raw ingredients, such as fibre and base minerals. Protein concentrates can work well with the processors that make plant-based meat.
Using protein concentrates will move products further towards being ‘clean label’. Not only will using protein concentrates, alongside natural flavours, satisfy this demand, but it will provide “the best balance of taste, price and nutrition”.
Of course, there are still bottlenecks in the process. “Significant progress has been made in recent years, supported by both public and private funding, including the exploration of ingredients derived from underutilised crop breeds and advances in food technology.
“However, further work is needed to expand our knowledge base and further balance taste, price and nutrition.”
Ingredients are one of the most expensive components of plant-based meat production, Williams explains. By using multifunctional ingredients, the quantity can be cut down.
Clean label and transparency
However, having a clean-label composition, in terms of ingredients, won’t do manufacturers much good unless consumers understand what said ingredients are.
Much of the scepticism around additives comes from lack of understanding, suggests Williams. Consumers want to know what’s in their food, and why.
Complex and technical-sounding names do not contribute to consumer trust, but instead impede it.
Protein concentrates are a good example, she suggests, of when names hinder, rather than help, efforts to persuade consumers that a product is clean label.
“They are often made using ‘dry fractionation’, which sounds intimidating and industrial, but in practice is fairly simple. It is done by grinding the ingredients into a coarse flour and then spinning them in a centrifuge, which causes the protein-rich grains to separate from the carbohydrate-rich grains because they have different weights.”
There is a lot to be done in building trust among consumers when it comes to plant-based foods, Williams suggests.
In the end, innovation will only succeed if paired with effective and impactful communication.