“Clean label”—despite lacking a legal or commonly accepted definition—is a wake-up call to the food industry to re-examine ingredients, formulations, and processing for contemporary consumers who are increasingly mindful of their food and beverage choices.
Clean label is a catch-all term for a panoply of label claims such as “all natural”, “minimally processed,” and “non-GMO,” that also lack legal definition. The most obvious aspect of clean label is reducing the number of ingredients, particularly ingredients with long, unidentifiable, or difficult-to-pronounce names; those perceived to be artificial or synthetic; and those that serve no obvious nutritional or functional benefit.