Consumers are more concerned about sustainable ingredients: study

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Dive Brief:

• Eighty-five percent of consumers consider ingredients to be a significant factor in their food purchasing decisions, according to the Trend to Table report from ingredients producer Ardent Mills. Additionally, 83% of consumers consistently check food labels, with three-quarters of them examining both the ingredient lists and nutrition profiles of food products.
• “Information has never been more available to consumers,” said Matt Schueller, director of Marketing Insights at Ardent Mills in an interview with Food Dive, and food companies should use that to their advantage, he said.
• Despite the desire for ethical purchasing, 57% of consumers struggle to access information on sourcing and product origins.

Dive Insight:

Ardent Mills’ report looked to help CPGs gain further access to the minds of consumers, and how they are thinking about their purchasing decisions when it comes to food options. 

“There’s a great opportunity to understand food, with a capital F, and for us to help food manufacturers get smarter,” Schueller said. “You can call it a little bit of an awakening, that consumers are starting to realize that their decisions made today have an impact for future generations. That’s the definition of a trend, there’s a very strong foundation for an earnest movement among consumers.” 

Ardent Mills, a Pennsylvania-based ingredients supplier, conducted the recent report based on 10,000 consumer responses to help manufacturers understand consumer behavior.

Schueller sees sustainability as encompassing three areas: products, people, and processes. 

“Oftentimes, the food industry can nudge out the people aspect, but for consumers, that’s a critical piece,” and this leads them to develop a lack of confidence that the decisions they make actually have the impact they are looking to achieve, he said. 

Last year, a study from the Business Research Company revealed that more food manufacturers were focusing on sustainability to develop innovative products and to grow in the market. For example, in Feb. 2023, Elo Life Systems, a U.S.-based biotechnology company that focuses on human health through food raised $24.5 million to scale production of a sustainable, high-intensity sweetener.

In some instances, the problem lies in access to too much information on nutrition labels. For example, some dairy companies go as far as naming the cow your milk is coming from on the packaging, but consumers may be wary as to if that is accurate or not. 

“The other element there is that oftentimes sustainable products are at a premium price. And in today’s environment, the consumer needs information so that if they buy that jug of milk that’s 50 cents more, it will have the impact they want,” said Schueller. 

Nearly 60% of consumers are willing to pay more for foods that use whole and/or less processed ingredients, the report said, and 53% believe their food choices can have a positive impact on the planet.