Cleaning Up

In baseball, the cleanup hitter is the one who bats fourth and (theoretically) clears the bases with his home run. Food manufacturers these days are talking about cleaning up their labels. What exactly does the term ‘Clean Label’ mean? It depends on who you ask.

Terms like “free from”, “gluten-free”, “minimally processed”, “simple”, “natural” and “organic” are among the many expressions that food manufacturers use to describe their finished products. The working definition is more about transparency of ingredients, the absence of artificial ingredients, the absence of common allergens and the absence of preservatives. If it is not found in your cupboard, it should not be in the packaged food that you buy. Preservatives such as benzoates or sorbates probably do not have a spot in your pantry.

In our world of fresh fruits and vegetables, we use cold air as our preservative. The ‘Big 8” common allergens do not exist in our product scope. Our ingredients are simple: an apple contains apple. So, we have a tremendous opportunity to appeal to customers across all demographic groups with our daily offerings. Every time we get up to bat it should be a home run!