43
SEP 2017 FOOD FOCUSTHAILAND
SPECIAL
FOCUS
It all starts off withconsumer perceptionof
“natural”
.
This then influences decisionsmadebypowerful food
groups— food serviceand retail grocery storechains.
Companiescompileofficial lists,explicitlystating the ingredients
thatcannotbepresent in food items in their storesor restaurants.
e.g.WholeFoodscalls their list
“Unacceptable Ingredients
for Food”
and Paneracalls their list the
“NoNo List”.
Currently, clean label hasbecomepopular in
many regionsof theworld thanks to thegrowing
demand for free from additives or natural food.
In the United Kingdom, TESCO prints out a list
of unwanted food additives theywish to abolish
from food on their shelves, and sent to the
suppliers tomakeclean label food responsive to
the consumers demand. In the United States,
natural foodmarket wasworthUSD30billion in
2014. The similar trend is happening inEurope,
AustraliaandAsia,whereconsumersare looking
for natural and free-from additives food, despite
the fact that those additives were very much
beloved in thepast,suchasartificial sweeteners.
According to a consumer survey conducted
by one of the leading company in organic and
non-GMO food ingredients, an additive that
consumers are trying to avoid most is High
FructoseCornSyrup (HFCS).Thisexplainswhy
plant-based sweeteners aregrowing, especially
stevia.Japan is thefirstcountry thatcommercially
launchesstevia, and isacountry that consumes
the biggest amount of stevia. Stevia dominates
theJapanesesweetenermarketwith40%market
share. Zenith International, the international
advisor company in foodandbeverage industry,
assessed that stevia sales will reach USD 578
million in 2017.
In theUS,GroceryManufacturersAssociation
reported that American consumers are now
concerningabouthealth,sourceof rawmaterials
used in food products, and environmentally
friendly manufacture more than before. This
consequently resulted in the widespread trend
towards clean label food consumption, which is
warmly welcomed by food manufacturers and
traders.
TheOffice of International Trade Promotion
inMiami, USA, stated that age groups that are
most interested in clean label are millennials,
aged 18-34, and baby boomers, aged 51-69.
Together, theyaccount for the largest population
group in the US, taking 47.12% of the nation’s
population with combined population of 150.3
million --75.4millionmillennials,and74.9million
baby boomers, respectively. These consumers
aremore than willing to spendmoremoney on
healthandgoodenvironment.Theyalsokeen to
reject products containing unknown ingredients
andsomedangerouschemicals thataccumulate
in the long run. For example, consumers are
inclined tobuyaproductwithaword “eggwhite”
on the label instead of “albumen”, despite that
the twowords are the same ingredient.
Information from the 2016 Food andHealth
Survey conducted by the International Food
Information Council Foundation found that
American consumers prioritize information on a
food label in this followingorder; expirationdate,
product’s brand, nutrition facts, cooking
instruction, ingredients, serving size, calories,
andbenefit from the nutrients.
Furthermore, the research pointed out that
manyconsumersarescanning through the labels
quickly to look for unwanted or cautious
