1. Making sense of the ‘‘clean label’’ trends: a review of consumer food choice behavior and discussion of industry implications
Daniele Asioli
Jessica Aschemann-Witzel,Vincenzina Caputo, Riccardo Vecchio,
Azzurra Annunziata,Tormod Næs, Paula Varela
Marie Curie Fellow
NOFIMA AS, Norway
@DanieleAsioli
3nd Norwegian Food Market Research Conference
2 – 3th November 2017, Tromsø, Norway

2. OUTLINE Introduction Aims Consumer Behaviour Theoretical Background
What is a “Clean Label”?
Factors Driving Consumers’ Perceptions and Preferences for “Clean Label” Products
Discussion & Implications

3. INTRODUCTION

4. FOOD INDUSTRIALIZATION

5. CLEAN LABEL “New” trend
1980s with E numbers, but exploded 15 years ago
2013: 27% of new food products in Europe report some sorts of “clean label”
Food industry have started to respond with food products perceived as “cleaner”
No clear and common definition/regulation/understanding of “clean label”
No coherent overview of the factors affecting consumers’ preferences

6. AIMS Provide a holistic definition of “clean label”
Identify the main consumers’ drivers to choose “clean label” products
Derive implications for food manufacturers, policy makers and future research avenues

7. CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR AND THEORETICAL BACKGOUND

8. DUAL PROCESSING THEORY
Food choices often made in low ability/opportunity environments to process information (e.g. chaotic stores, low impact on budget, etc.)
Dual processing theory (DPT) (Evans, 2003)
Elaboration-Likelihood Model (ELM) (Petty and Cacioppo, 1986)
Consumers process the greater share of information about food through the peripheral route
Consumers rely more on using informational or visual cues that allow inferences and thus “short-cut” to a judgment
Food choices often made in low ability/opportunity to process information
Food choices conducted in an environment of information overload
Food involvement differ based on value orientation or relevance for expression of lifestyle, personality or identity
Food choices little impact on budget
Habitual choices

9. DUAL PROCESSING THEORY AND CLEAN LABELS
Consumers may use cues to infer ”clean label”
Consumers less involved might use visual cues from Front- Of-Pack (FOP) label at the store PERIPHERICAL ROUTE
Consumers more involved might use ingridient list information from Back-Of-Pack (BOP) label at home/store CENTRAL ROUTE
Consumers might infer a clean label from heuristics (i.e. short-list and/or familiarity ingridients)

10. APPROACH VS. AVOIDANCE
Consumers buy a product for fulfilling a need GOAL
Goals (Aaker & Lee, 2001)
Approach: achieve desiderable state, feature or situation
Avoiding : avoid a undesiderable state, feature or situation
Regulatory Focus Theory (RFT) (Higgins, 2005) in food nutrition choice, consumers might be motivated:
Attaining something (i.e. health and well-being)
Avoid something (i.e. risk of disease) (Van Kleef et al., 2005)
Individual Promotion vs. Prevention focus can contribute to understand food choice of an individual (deBoer & Schosle, 2016)
Negative biases
Optimism biases

11. WHAT IS A “CLEAN LABEL”? No common and clear definitions
Micheal Pollan “… not eat everything with more than five ingredients”
Ingredion: “…ingredients ….accepted by consumers – those that they … ind in the kitchen cupboards. The ingredients list should be short, simple and minimally processed …. not include like chemicals or E-number”.
Interpretation is subjective
Familiarity with ingredients/production method
Different kitchen cupboard items
Related to certain food categories or ingredients
KEY TREND: consumers’ perception as resulting from communication on the package in interaction with the consumers’ processing and individual preferences

12. WHAT IS A “CLEAN LABEL”?

13. FACTORS DRIVING CONSUMERS’ PERCEPTIONS AND PREFERENCES FOR CLEAN LABEL PRODUCTS

14. METHODOLOGY
Literature review based on scientific articles on different online catalogous
Using keywords (i.e. «clean label», «no artificial additives» etc.)
Social science, food science, sensory, nutrition, marketing and business
Focus on three main ”clean label” categories
Organic
Natural
”Free from” artificial additives/ingridients
95 articles investigated (54 organic, 25 natural and 16 ”free from”)

15. FACTORS DRIVING CONSUMERS’ PREFERENCES FOR ORGANIC FOODS

16. FACTORS DRIVING CONSUMERS’ PREFERENCES FOR NATURAL FOODS

17. FACTORS DRIVING CONSUMERS’ PREFERENCES FOR “FREE FROM” FOODS

18. DISCUSSION & IMPLICATIONS

19. CLEAN LABEL DEFINITION AND CONSUMER UNDERSTANDING
A broad diversity of drivers has been found to influence the “clean label” trend
Similarities across the three categories
Intrinsic and extrinsic product characteristics
Socio-Cultural factors
Health (e.g. healthiness of the product, health claims on package, etc.)
High prices
Differences across the three categories
Intrinsic products characteristics were more relevant for natural and “free from”
Sensory characteristics and Sustainability not much relevant for “free from”
Biological & Psychological factors relevant for “free from”

20. CLEAN LABEL DEFINITION AND CONSUMER UNDERSTANDING (2)
Health is the key driver across all categories
Organic and Natural foods can be infer
FOP (broad sense) and information might be processed through peripheral route
Mainly “approach”
“Free from” can be infer both
FOP using peripherally process
BOP (strict sense) information might be processed through central route
Mainly “avoidance”

21. IMPLICATIONS FOR FOOD MANUFACTURER AND POLICY MAKERS
FOOD MANUFACTURERS
Different factors account for NPD and marketing (Frewer et al, 2011)
Health is the more relevant factor
“Free from” target group is different than organic and natural
POLICY MAKERS
Homogeneous understating and application of the term “clean label”
Common definition of “clean label” will help the markets for natural and “free from” food through regulation and certification
Ensure that consumers choosing “clean label” products for health and heath worries as a guidance in their choices are not mislead
Reduce prices for “clean label” so all consumers groups can afford

22. FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS
Factors drive consumer choices for certain types of “free from” (i.e. lactose-free) and consumers’ heterogeneity
Developing countries
Others clean label categories (e.g. gluten-free, meat-free, etc.)
Consumers preferences and WTP for “free from”
Behavioral reasons driving consumers’ decision making process for “free from” food products to investigate the relationships existing among factors
Inclusion of psychological factors (i.e. risk preferences, time preferences, etc.) into economic models of consumer demand

24. Thank you for your kind attention
Any question, suggestion, etc. is welcome…