Let's Talk Nutrition With Nico Episode 5: Clean Labels, Sustainability, and Consumer Trust

The fifth episode of "Let's Talk Nutrition with Nico," a collaborative video series between Lana Pine of The Educated Patient and Nicholas Saraceno of Nutritional Outlook, looks at how clean-label expectations, ingredient sourcing, and environmental transparency are converging into a single trust question for consumers.

Saraceno draws on recent Nutritional Outlook coverage of the industry's shift away from synthetic dyes, including an interview with Dana Osborn of California Natural Color, along with recent reporting on Ingredion's 2025 sustainability report and its progress on upcycled ingredients and sustainable crop sourcing.

The conversation also touches on survey data showing how ingredient recognizability and transparency are increasingly shaping purchasing decisions, not just brand perception. The episode closes with a discussion of what manufacturers should take away when deciding which sustainability and clean-label investments to prioritize.

A transcript of Pine's and Saraceno's conversation can be found below.

Lana Pine: I'm Lana Pine, senior editor of The Educated Patient, and welcome to episode 5 of "Let's Talk Nutrition with Nico." I'm joined as always by Nico Saraceno, senior editor of NO.Nico, good to see you again.

Nicholas Saraceno: Good to see you too, Lana. This episode is continuing the trends of being a little different from our usual ingredient-specific conversations.

Pine: How so?

Saraceno: It's less about 1 ingredient and more about a theme that keeps showing up across a bunch of separate stories we've covered lately: natural colors, upcycled ingredients, sustainable sourcing. On the surface, those seem like 3 different beats, but they're all really answering the same question for consumers, which is, can I trust what's actually in this product?

Pine: That tracks with what we hear from patients too. It's not just "is this safe," it's "is this what the label says it is."

Saraceno: Exactly. So let's start with colors, because that's had the most regulatory movement recently. Back in February, the FDA revised its policy around "no artificial colors" claims, which is pushing a lot of formulators toward plant-derived pigments.¹

My colleague Erin McEvoy spoke to Dana Osborn, marketing manager at California Natural Color about this,² and one thing she said told Erin stuck with me: brands aren't just swapping dyes because they have to, they're doing it because the updated policy finally lets ingredient decks and on-pack claims line up the way consumers already assumed they did.

Pine: Wait, so before this, brands could have "natural" claims on pack while still using some synthetic colors?

Saraceno: Sort of, it was murkier than people realized. That's part of why this matters. Osborn also pointed out something formulators don't always think about, which is that natural pigments behave differently than synthetics: they're more sensitive to heat, light, oxygen, and even cook time. So this isn't a 1-to-1 swap, but rather it's a real formulation project, and companies are having to invest in R&D collaboration earlier in the process to make it work.

Pine: That's a good reminder that "clean label" isn't just a marketing decision, there's real technical labor behind it.

Saraceno: Right, and that same tension shows up with upcycled ingredients and sourcing. I covered Ingredion's 2025 sustainability report a few months ago,³ and the sourcing numbers were pretty striking: they went from 25% sustainably sourced tier 1 crops in 2020, to over 96% in 2025, across things like corn, tapioca, and stevia.

Pine: That's a big jump. What changed?

Saraceno: Their SVP, chief commercial, and sustainability officer, Larry Fernandes, framed it as less about setting a distant goal and more about embedding it into actual sourcing decisions, working directly with growers rather than treating sustainability as a side initiative.³ And on the upcycling side, they've got some genuinely interesting projects, like converting citrus peels into citrus fiber for texture and fiber enrichment, or using black soldier flies to convert organic waste into protein.

Pine: Okay, I'll admit, black soldier flies sound a little unusual for a nutrition conversation.

Saraceno: It sounds unusual, but it's a good example of where sustainability and functionality actually meet. And it's not just a feel-good story—the upcycled output becomes a usable ingredient. That said, I don't want to oversell it. One thing worth flagging is that reporting standards for this stuff still vary a lot from company to company, so it's hard to do apples-to-apples comparisons across suppliers right now.

Pine: So how does all of this actually connect to consumer trust and purchasing behavior? Is there data on that, or is it more of an assumption at this point?

Saraceno: There's actual data, and it's a big part of why I wanted to do this episode. There was a piece we ran on Prosur ahead of the IFT First conference that cited some consumer research,⁴ and the numbers are pretty telling: 48% of consumers view ultra-processed foods as unhealthy, largely because of artificial ingredients and additives. Meanwhile, 62% say recognizable ingredients influence their purchasing decisions, and 57% specifically want full ingredient transparency, not just a shorter list.

Pine: So it's not just "natural sounds nice," it's actually changing what people put in their cart.

Saraceno: That's the takeaway. And for manufacturers, I think the lesson across all 3 of these threads, colors, upcycling, sourcing, is that transparency has stopped being a nice-to-have positioning angle and become something closer to a baseline expectation. But it also means you can't fake it. If your "clean label" claim isn't backed by real formulation work, or your sustainability numbers aren't consistent or verifiable, that's exactly the kind of gap that erodes the trust you're trying to build.

Pine: That's a good note for both sides, honestly, brands and the people evaluating their claims.

Saraceno: Agreed. I'll drop links to all the pieces we talked about today in the video description for anyone who wants to dig into the specifics.

Pine: This was a great one, Nico. Feels like a good reminder that sustainability claims need the same scrutiny as any other label claim.

Saraceno: Couldn't agree more. Thanks for having me, Lana. See you next time!

References

1. McEvoy E. FDA revises "no artificial colors" labeling policy to support shift away from synthetic dyes. Nutritional Outlook. February 5, 2026. Accessed July 24, 2026. https://www.nutritionaloutlook.com/view/fda-revises-no-artificial-colors-labeling-policy-to-support-shift-away-from-synthetic-dyes

2. Osborn D, McEvoy E. The shift away from synthetics: navigating formulations with natural colorants. Nutritional Outlook. March 6, 2026. Accessed July 24, 2026. https://www.nutritionaloutlook.com/view/the-shift-away-from-synthetics-navigating-formulations-with-natural-colorants

3. Saraceno N. Ingredion sustainability report highlights growth in sourcing and upcycled ingredient initiatives. Nutritional Outlook. May 27, 2026. Accessed July 24, 2026. https://www.nutritionaloutlook.com/view/ingredion-sustainability-report-growth-sourcing

4. McEvoy E. At IFT 2026 Prosur will highlight solutions for meeting consumer clean-label demand. Nutritional Outlook. June 26, 2026. Accessed July 20, 2026. https://www.nutritionaloutlook.com/view/ift-2026-prosur-solutions-consumer-clean-label