Clean Label Without Compromise: Functional Starches, Flours and Texturizing Fibers
Clean Label Without Compromise: Starches & Texturizers
As food & beverage manufacturers look ahead to 2027 budget cycles, reformulation decisions are moving from the bench to the boardroom. Switching to clean label is more than a formula change — it’s a capital commitment requiring investment in new ingredient systems, process validation, and label redesign.
Specialty starches and texturizers offer one of the highest-ROI entry points into clean label reformulation — delivering label simplification while enabling significant cost recovery. Let ICI Foods guide you on this journey.
The Consumer Mandate Is Real — and Growing
Clean label has moved from a trend to a baseline expectation — but affordability remains the #1 barrier to broader adoption. Manufacturers who deliver clean labels at cost parity win.
- 2 out of 3 consumers say clean label is VERY important
- 65% have increased clean label purchases in the last 5 years
- 47% of consumers rely on the ingredient list to determine if a product is clean label¹
- 77% believe products should be both healthy and clean label
- 73% of U.S. consumers would pay more for products with only recognizable ingredients — and 27% would pay 20–30% more²
2027 Planning Is Happening Now
Whether you’re evaluating clean label reformulation for cost savings, label improvement, or competitive differentiation — the time to start is before budgets are locked. ICI Foods is ready to help you build a strategy and source the right ingredients.
Value Engineering: 3 Ways Starches Pay for Themselves
Cut Costs — Replace expensive commodity inputs like oils, dairy fats, and proteins with high-performance starch systems.
Redeploy Savings — Fund label upgrades, nutrition improvements, or margin recovery from the cost savings generated.
Win Consumers — Deliver cleaner labels at price points consumers can actually afford.
Planning Reformulation in 2027? Start Here.
Clean label reformulation is increasingly treated as a capital investment. When you account for ingredient system changes, processing adjustments, and validation costs, the business case needs to go beyond label appeal — it needs a return.
The value engineering approach to specialty starches allows you to cut costs by replacing expensive commodity inputs, redeploy those savings into label and nutrition improvements, and win consumers with cleaner labels at competitive price points — all fundable within a well-structured 2027 capital plan.
Sources:
¹ Ingredion Proprietary Clean Label Study, July 2026
² Ingredion Proprietary ATLAS Consumer Research, 2025
³ Ingredion Proprietary Texture Consumer Research, 2024
⁴ FMCG GURUS: Cost of Living and Price Sensitivity, North America, 2024
The definitions of “clean label” and “natural” are subject to legal and regulatory interpretation. Recipients should consult their own legal and regulatory guidelines.