Citrus flavours are beloved for their refreshing zest, versatility, and ability to invigorate the senses. Consumers are drawn to them not only for their familiar taste but also for their perceived health benefits, with rising demand for natural citrus flavours driven by the clean-label trend.
Orange continues to be one of the most widely consumed citrus flavours in the world, yet despite its popularity, the global orange oil market is facing significant supply challenges due to factors such as crop shortages, poor fruit quality, and climate-related disruptions.
As demand for natural products continues to grow, driven by widespread use in food and beverages, cosmetics, and cleaning products, orange oil prices are expected to increase over the next 3-5 years.
In response these challenges, Flavorchem, a global flavour and ingredient supplier, developed taste mod™ orange, an innovative line of orange oil replacers, offering the zesty taste of citrus at a more affordable price.
“Our sweet orange oil replacers have been applied in easy-to-use flavour forms specifically designed for beverages,” says Niki Hernandez, Senior Manager Flavour Development. “Available in extract, emulsion, and spray dry forms, it comes in both TYPE and WONF versions and meets specific regulatory requirements.”
Flavorchem’s expertly crafted sweet orange oil replacers offer the bright, refreshing flavours your products require, while ensuring consistency, cost-effectiveness, and sustainability that today’s market demands. Taste mod™ orange delivers an authentic, true-to-fruit Valencia Orange flavour, labeled as “natural flavour” and ideal for clean-label products. Perfect for a wide range of beverage applications, it provides a reliable, high-quality alternative to traditional orange oils.
CCL Label, a world leader in labels and packaging, announces the inauguration of a brand-new production facility for shrink sleeve labels in Tibi, Spain near Alicante.
“We are very excited to offer shrink sleeves produced in Spain for local brands and multinational brands operating in Spain. Investing into local production follows CCL’s strategy to stay close to the production sites and filling lines of major food and beverage as well as home and personal care brands and service them locally and efficiently”, explains Lukas Nachbaur, Commercial and Technical Director at the new facility. “Our first brand customers have placed and received orders and were happy with the quality and service.”
Modern printing technology for premium shrink sleeves
“The investment in this greenfield facility is a commitment to the growing Spanish consumer products market. There are many great brands that call Spain their home and the country has a proud tradition to produce outstanding high-quality food and drinks including beer, wine and spirits”, Reinhard Streit, VP and Managing Director Food&Beverage at CCL Label points out. “We installed state-of-the-art assets to service these premium brands in the best way possible – we see that we can offer our customers very special printing technology that is unique in Spain.”
The installed assets offer customers premium printing technology. The combination of offset and gravure printing offers customers the greatest flexibility when it comes to changing designs frequently.
Award-Winning floatable EcoFloat sleeve technology a focus
Although all shrink sleeve materials will be available, there will be a focus on the award-winning EcoFloat shrink sleeves made from polyolefin that are approved for PET, HDPE and PP bottles and containers and have been embraced by renowned brands.
Shrink sleeves are applied by heat and conform to a variety of container shapes, acting like a second skin. They are made from floatable low-density polyolefin material, which is at the forefront of sustainable shrink sleeve technology. The design of the sleeves allows for easy separation from the primary container during the recycling process, thus supporting material separation and enhancing recycling efficiency.
“Just as other European countries, Spain will have to deliver on the ambitious new packaging and packaging waste (PPWR) regulation. The regulation also includes mandatory Design for Recycling and our low density, floatable EcoFloat polyolefin sleeves have been endorsed by several recycling associations like RecyClass and the European PET Bottle Platform (EPBP),” says Marika Knorr, Head of Sustainability and Communication at CCL Label. “PET bottles that are combined with a EcoFloat sleeve are fully recyclable and this helps increase the yield of food-grade PET resins, that then can be fed back into new bottles – closing the loop. Mandatory recycled content targets are also an integral part of PPWR legislation.”
Sustainability a priority at production site
The sleeve production will be ultimately be co-located with the In-Mould Label production site (formerly Creaprint) that was acquired about a year ago. The IML Business is expected to move to the new site in Tibi in 2026.
“IML is a rapidly growing decoration technology. The label becomes an integral part of injection or blow moulded plastic containers without the need for adhesives, typically using the same resin material as the container for easy recycling”, comments José Vincente Guillem, general manager of the CCL Spain IML plant.
Oterra, one of the the world’s leading suppliers of natural colours for food and beverage, announce the immediate launch of its Simply Brown range. Expertly crafted from apples, the new range heralds a new era in Oterra’s clean label caramel replacement solutions as part of their flagship FruitMax® colouring food range.
While caramel has long been a food colouring staple, changing consumer preferences show the need for clean brown replacements. A recent study showed over 25 % of consumers actively avoid foods with additives due to healthier eating, while 56 % will pay more for products bearing a ’natural’ label. Oterra’s Simply Brown range, which includes four products, a powder, and liquid for human consumption, and two pet products, answers this demand by utilising a gentle cooking process that results in rich, stable natural brown shades without the unwanted caramelisation.
Food and Beverage manufacturers who utilise Oterra’s Simply Brown range meet clean label requirements by being able to list the colours on packaging as ‘Apple concentrate’ in the EU or ‘Fruit juice (colour)’ in the US. In contrast to certain caramel replacements, such as malt, Simply Brown is also gluten-free, and devoid of 4-MEI and sulfites, making it an even more attractive alternative for health-conscious consumers.
The range is ideally suited for bakery, cereal, snack, and savory applications, given ist exceptional stability, even in high pH and high-temperature environments. Furthermore, it is perfect for use in dairy applications, as it delivers that classic chocolate milkshake appearance without interfering with other proteins and minerals in the mixture.
Clean and clear labeling concerns are now well established in the food and beverage industry, having featured as a key and running theme through all Innova Market Insights’ Top Trends forecasts in recent years. More than ten years ago ‘Go Natural’ led the Company’s annual top trends listing and since then clean label claims have developed and featured each year in different forms, increasingly weaving throughout the entire trends listings until they are now regarded as a given.
The term ‘clear labeling,’ which Innova Market Insights coined for its 2015 trends listing, has now fully entered industry parlance, being used in several company marketing campaigns, with new commitments on a clean or clear platform regularly.
Its increasingly mainstream status is illustrated in the fact that nearly 28 % of global food and beverage launches recorded by Innova Market Insights in 2018 used one or more clean label claims (natural, organic, no additives/preservatives and GMO-free), rising to nearly 39 % in the US.
There have also been associated rises in interest in related clean label areas such as vegan-friendly, raw and paleo diets, and also in the focus on minimal processing, including the use of techniques such as cold-pressing and high-pressure treatment. This is running alongside increasingly wide ethical concerns, including fair trade and sustainability, packaging, the environment, and animal welfare.
No additives/preservatives claims continue to feature most strongly, used for just over 15 % of global launches in 2018, rising to over 20 % in the US. The US generally sees higher levels of use of all types of clean label positionings and is also particularly notable for the strong position of GMO-free labeling. This featured on 17.8 % of launches, compared with under 6 % globally and was also the number two clean label claim in the US overall, well ahead of both organic on just over 13 % and natural on just over 8 %.
Flavor is still the number one factor influencing purchasing decisions, reports Lu Ann Williams, Director of Innovation at Innova Market Insights. “But it is clear that in recent years, the clean label trend has broadened out into a wider movement, focusing on an increasingly mindful consumer trying to make responsible food choices that are not only tasty and healthy but also sustainable and ethical.”
While interest in clean label has kept organic and GMO free claims in the spotlight in many countries, rising levels of competition mean that product offerings have had to become much more sophisticated, focusing more on value-added products and combining both specialist organic brands and organic and GMO free variants in existing conventional ranges.
Organic or GMO claims alone may not now be enough and companies are focusing on additional benefits including other related clean-label areas such as vegan-friendly, raw, and paleo diets, as well as local ingredients and sourcing, minimal processing and unusual and premium-style recipes and flavors, including the use of seasonal and limited editions.
Strengthened organization will focus on R&D project pipeline growth in ingredient and process development
DuPont Nutrition & Health announced it is expanding its R&D team by creating a “clean label hub” at the Brabrand facility. Intending to boost its project pipeline in healthy nutrition and clean label texturant offerings, six new employees will join the existing team to focus on both ingredient and process development.
The hub will feature experts with backgrounds in clean label and sustainability – two fields that often work together and serve related purposes. Working closely with existing project teams, the hub will bring products to market quickly and help grow the existing project pipeline.
“Clean label is about creating foods and beverages with ingredients that consumers recognize, feel good about putting into their bodies, and that respect the Earth and its resources,” said Gerard Lynch, R&D Leader, Systems & Texturants, Emulsifiers & Sweeteners. “Our ingredients are already used in many applications that consumers consider clean label, but there are tremendous opportunities to innovate – creating ingredients that are even more sustainable, using a larger part of the natural raw materials, while providing health benefits to consumers. Committing to this innovation is critical for our ongoing success and growth.”
With the ability to utilize the broadest capabilities in terms of natural raw materials access, processing, across fruits, vegetables, seaweeds and nutritional science, DuPont Nutrition & Health has huge potential to develop functional ingredients that meet consumer expectations.
The hub will help customers continue to navigate clean label trends in a proactive and sustainable way. DuPont Nutrition & Health is seeking creative scientists and engineers to identify ways to convert sustainable and natural raw materials into clean label solutions that meet consumer demands for simplicity and authenticity, all without compromising taste, texture and nutritional qualities.
Planned to be in place by early 2019, the clean label texturants team will have the opportunity to tackle exciting projects to provide texture and stability for multiple food applications.
