Ingredient lists have become an increasingly important part of how consumers evaluate the foods they buy.
Across bakery, confectionery, dairy, beverages, and nutrition, shoppers are steering away from anything unrecognisable or synthetic-sounding, and clean label has shifted from a niche claim to a consumer expectation.
This shift is accelerating on both sides of the Atlantic. In Europe, tightening regulation and rising brand standards have already phased out many additives consumers once distrusted, from artificial colours to trans fats. A comparable movement is now taking hold in the US, where scrutiny of artificial colours, seed oils, added sugar, and ultra-processed foods has sharpened considerably.
Increasingly, consumers define healthy not just by nutritional content but by whether a product’s ingredients, and the sourcing and process behind them, are verifiably natural and whether those claims can be substantiated. This shift concerns consumer trust: natural ingredients only hold value if people can believe in the claims made. In turn, this puts manufacturers under growing pressure to back natural claims with genuine reformulation and verifiable sourcing, not marketing language alone.
Few flavours come under more pressure than vanilla. It remains one of the world’s most widely used flavours, valued for its sweetness and familiarity across bakery, chocolate, dairy, beverages, and nutrition products, which is precisely what makes it such a difficult ingredient to reformulate. Vanilla bean extract offers authenticity, but has a limited supply, can be inconsistent from batch to batch, and is prone to sharp price swings. Synthetic alternatives perform reliably, but undermine a clean label claim.
Natural vanillin, a plant-derived vanilla flavour created through natural fermentation, offers a way through this tension. Syensqo’s Rhovanil Natural gives manufacturers greater consistency and supply reliability than vanilla bean extract, while offering a natural alternative to synthetic vanillin.
However, marketing a product as natural is no longer an end in itself; instead, substantiating this label is quickly becoming a meaningful differentiator.
To outline what that means for manufacturers, FoodNavigator spoke with Thibaud Caulier, commercial and marketing director at Syensqo.
Q: Clean label has evolved beyond ingredient lists. What does transparency mean today?
A: Initially, clean label was about natural origin and a simpler ingredients list. More recently, it’s evolved towards proving those claims. Saying something is natural isn’t enough anymore – you have to demonstrate it.
Consumers also want to know how the feedstock is sourced, whether it’s sustainable and where it comes from, which means that traceability is key. Greater scrutiny of natural claims has made consumers a bit more sceptical. They want to understand what they’re actually eating, and there’s also a trend towards less-transformed food, with fewer processing steps.
Q: Will the next competitive advantage be ‘provable’ natural and sustainable ingredients, rather than just ‘natural’?
A: Natural doesn’t necessarily mean sustainable. You have to look at the various impacts of natural sourcing.
Is the raw material competing with food production? Does it interfere with agricultural land use? What’s the impact on carbon footprint and water resources? Are pesticides showing up as impurities in the final food? Is the material based on genetically modified feedstock or not? Country of origin can matter too.
All of this has to be proven, not just self-declared, using technical and analytical methods.
Q: How is a ‘natural’ product defined?
A: What is considered ‘natural’ isn’t universal. Natural vanillin in Europe doesn’t have the same requirements as natural vanillin in the US or elsewhere. That’s still misunderstood by some consumers and industry players.
Historically, anything from a non-fossil carbon source was considered natural. Now, it depends on the country and its regulations. That’s the key point: what is considered ‘natural’ isn’t the same everywhere.
Q: How do you see regulatory expectations evolving over the next five years?
A: It’s the same trend: more transparency and more evidence behind claims, with more controls to ensure claims are valid.
The process matters as much as the source. Take vanillin: in the EU, if you use a natural feedstock but convert it using a harsh process, such as high temperature, high pressure or a catalyst, you can lose the natural claim. By comparison, the US is less strict about the conditions that can be applied.
In the past, you’d provide a process flow chart as a self-declaration. Now, regulators can audit you and visit your plant to check that the process matches what was declared.
Larger businesses go even further. These companies will audit suppliers regularly and want to see continuous improvement: what are your targets, where are you going, and when will you reach carbon neutrality?
People used to assume natural meant sustainable. Now, they’re looking at the science: carbon footprint, water consumption and pesticide impact from agriculture.
Q: How does supply reliability intersect with clean label?
A: Manufacturers increasingly need solutions that combine natural sourcing with consistent quality, industrial scalability, and dependable supply. Sustainability only delivers value if manufacturers can rely on it over the long term.
Supply reliability can often be a geopolitical issue. A lot of natural ingredients come from Asia, so what happens if you’re sourcing everything from one region? We all discovered the answer with COVID-19 – when supply chains in China were disrupted, it created significant issues.
I remember talking to several large flavour and fragrance companies that told me they were highly dependent on Asia. If supply from Asia were to be limited, for one reason or another, they could be left with no alternative.
That’s part of the value proposition for Syensqo: our natural vanillin is produced in Europe. Producing natural vanillin outside of Asia puts us in a distinctive position.
Q: What should manufacturers look for in a natural ingredient supplier?
A: First, compliance with the naturality rules of the target country, but that’s just the starting point. Customers often have requirements that are stricter than regulation, and suppliers have to pass their audits too.
Then there’s consistency of quality. You can tick every box, but if there’s major batch-to-batch variability, it won’t be acceptable. Consistency matters as much as supply reliability.
Local delivery is another challenge. When you sell vanillin to a major food company, you’re delivering to many different sites, across different geographic locations, and potentially at vastly different quantities. Suppliers have to be reliable at every single site – that’s non-negotiable.
Finally, suppliers should provide technical support. Vanillin doesn’t just provide vanilla taste; it can enhance sweetness and add warmth, which is particularly useful as food companies reduce sugar, fat or cocoa butter. Customers come to us asking how to adjust vanillin dosage while maintaining the same taste.
We’re proud of our applications lab in Lyon, where our experts help customers adapt formulations to market needs. Not every supplier can offer that.
Click here to find out more about Syensqo’s natural vanillin and download a clean label e-guide.