A crisis of trust in the food aisle

By CHRISTIAN PHILIPPSEN, Managing Director, BENEO, Asia Pacific

Why does reading a food label feel like you need a translation tool to fully understand it?

Walk through any grocery aisle today and you’ll find shoppers behaving like detectives: turning over packages, scrutinising labels, and second-guessing what’s inside. In Asia, where nearly 60% of consumers say clean label products have a “fair” to “great” influence on their buying decisions^[1], this scrutiny is only intensifying.

In today’s food culture, it’s not enough for a product to be clean—it has to be honest as well. Consumers want ingredients they recognize, understand, and believe in. And increasingly, they’re rewarding brands that can offer transparency from farm to factory to final product.

Six in ten consumers scrutinize food labels (Photo courtesy of BENEO)

Clean label, clearer values

As demand for transparency grows^[2], food manufacturers are under increasing pressure to use ingredients that meet both health and labelling expectations. This means going beyond “free from” claims and tapping into recognizable ingredients that offer functional benefits consumers understand and trust.

Prebiotic fibers like Orafti^® Inulin and Oligofructose are a great example. Extracted via a gentle physical extraction process from the chicory root, these ingredients naturally support digestive health and help manage blood glucose levels—nutritional benefits that are not only scientifically substantiated but can also be clearly communicated to consumers.

Other ingredients, such as those made from rice, are also gaining traction for similar reasons. BENEO’s rice starch, for instance, is valued for its outstanding technological properties, hypoallergenic profile and mild taste, making it a fit for a broad range of applications. It enhances texture and improves stability in a wide range of applications, from infant meals and gluten-free applications to dairy and alternative dairy products as well as soups and sauces. In addition to providing functional benefits and high quality, BENEO continuously invests to improve its sustainability credentials, such as reducing CO₂ emissions, fostering responsible water use in production as well as projects to reduce the environmental impact of rice farming.

Production that reflects purpose

Clean label isn't just about what's in the product. It's also about how that product is made.      Increasingly, consumers care about sustainable sourcing, minimal processing, and the environmental footprint of their food.

That’s where pulses like the faba bean come in. Naturally nutrient-dense and functionally versatile, faba beans are well-suited for clean-label applications—from emulsification in egg-free baked goods to improving texture and the nutritional profile in plant-based meat and dairy alternatives. Environmentally, they also have a natural advantage: as nitrogen-fixing crops, they enrich the soil and reduce the need for synthetic fertilisers not just for themselves, but also for subsequent crops.    

To scale up sustainable options like these, BENEO recently opened a new pulse-processing facility in Germany. The site was designed with sustainability in mind: powered on 100% renewable energy, it also features rooftop solar panels, and uses waste heat from production to heat the building.

One of the facility’s most notable features is its water-free processing technology—a critical step in conserving water resources. The plant uses locally grown faba beans and follows a zero-waste model, with every part of the crop fully utilised. Protein concentrates, starch-rich flour, and hulls are all valorised for both food and feed applications, thus maximising resource efficiency.

The site also reflects BENEO’s wider commitment to sustainability through its Healthy Planet Plan, which includes goals around climate protection, supply chain resilience, and responsible sourcing. The cultivation methods of the faba beans comply with the Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA) Gold Level, i.e. they fulfil certain standards for sustainable agriculture.

A future built on food you can trust

Once upon a time, “clean label” simply meant removing artificial ingredients. Today, it’s about delivering on transparency through ingredients that are easy to understand, rooted in nature, and produced with intention.

With more than 6 in 10 global consumers now reading food labels regularly and actively researching ingredient origins, the market is no longer just rewarding simplicity – it's demanding evidence. Brands that back up their claims with scientifically proven health benefits are the ones earning consumers’ trust.

In today’s world where trust is hard-earned and easily lost, the most powerful ingredient on any label is honesty.