a clean label approach for kind bars meshes seamlessly and literally with product transparency. want to know what the clean label fuss is all about, why it&rsquos ontrend and what it means for packaging and graphics design you can in this short debriefing from a food scientist and principal with the clean label conferences.as a career food scientist and coowner of global food forums, producer of the clean label conferences, claudia o&rsquodonnell is embedded within the clean label movement. she&rsquos also a former colleague of mine from back on prepared foods magazine, for which she was editor for a number of years. when i sought to learn more about clean labels and what that means for packaging, she was my goto expert. i found her responses enlightening and i hope that you do, too.in short, what is meant by a &ldquoclean label&rdquoo&rsquodonnell there is no regulatory definition, though many definitions have been offered by the industry. i feel, most simply, it means that consumers are familiar with the ingredients contained in the food or beverage and that they view the product as wholesome.how hot is this trend and does it have &ldquolegs&rdquoo&rsquodonnell it&rsquos very hot and very long term. i was director of r&dqc of a small food company in california. my boss, the president, would tell me &ldquoi don&rsquot want any ingredients in our products that my wife does not know what they are.&rdquo that was three decades agomost point to consumers as the driver of the clean label trend. however, increased globalization of food distribution is another. foods with uncomplicated ingredient legends face less regulatory hurdles when a company tries to market them in different countries.and, advances in food technologies have also helped drive, or at least enabled, the trend. consumers also want safe, healthful, convenient and greattasting foods they can afford. emerging ingredient, processing and packaging technologies allow the development of cleanlabel products that still have those characteristics.what&rsquos a &ldquogood&rdquo callout to add or an ingredient to eliminateo&rsquodonnell it depends, in part, on the targeted market. for example, &ldquofree from allergens&rdquo can be a component of a clean label as can animal welfare. some consumers may not want dairy ingredients. however, whey proteins are attractive to most body builders. and, an ingredient legend that lists butter, milk powder or yogurt could appeal to those looking for convenient, great tasting food &ldquolike grandma use to make.&rdquothe decision as to which ingredients should be eliminated for a cleaner label depends, in part, on the target market. technology considerations, including packaging, are also important.let&rsquos cut to the chase how does this trend affectbenefitchallenge packagingo&rsquodonnell i see the clean label trend impacting packaging design in at least three waysthe first and most obvious is that as a product is reformulated to have different ingredients andor claims, the copy on a package will be changed.secondly, the packaging also communicates with consumers in more subtle ways, an ongoing challenge for packaging designers. for example, &ldquotransparency&rdquo is a concept closely aligned with clean labels. as food manufacturers strive to be more open with consumers, transparent packaging, literally, is helpful. a classic example is kind, llc&rsquos line of strong & kind bars. not only are large, whole ingredients used, but part of the front label is transparent so consumers can view the product. thirdly kenneth marsh, ph.d., who spoke at our 2013 clean label conference, suggested an unusual, but sophisticated way of looking at what is required for packaging in cleanlabel efforts. for example, antioxidants protect a product against rancidity, which packaging can do as well. for some products, the weaker the antioxidant preservative system, the more important the packaging becomes. there is a tradeoff.also, since packaging requirements change depending on distributionstorage systems, marsh suggested that products distributed in colder climates may require less antioxidant preservatives, but that also less expensive packaging would be needed since rancidity slows with lower temperatures. marsh&rsquos presentation pdf can be viewed here.claudia o&rsquodonnell is coowner of global food forums, inc., parent company of the clean label conferences. free conference presentations can be downloaded by clicking on the individual conference sites and then the &ldquostore&rdquo tab at www.globalfoodforums.comcleanlabel. 
