In October last year, Sam's Club's 'One Little Tangerine' snack quickly went viral, selling out as soon as it hit the shelves. 'Dole sold it for years without much traction, but Sam's sold it and it exploded,' an industry insider from a supermarket told the author. What exactly did Sam's do to 'One Little Tangerine'? In fact, besides improving cost-effectiveness, Sam's 'radically revamped' the snack's ingredients, removing excessive food additives and flavorings, and reducing sugar by 30%. In the end, the ingredients were only mandarin oranges, white sugar, and citric acid, and the shelf life was shortened from 12 months to 5 months. Even the packaging proudly states: sodium benzoate 0%, potassium sorbate 0%, lemon yellow 0%, sunset yellow 0%, and flavoring 0%. The dual approach of high cost-effectiveness and clean ingredients made this snack break out and go viral. Meanwhile, on the Dingdong Maicai app, a poll about ingredient lists recently attracted over 13,000 users, with a staggering 95% saying 'I'm an ingredient-conscious consumer.' Sales performance also supports this trend: a bakery product from a certain brand in Dingdong Maicai's Beijing region saw its sales double month-over-month after confirming the 'clean ingredients' label. When 'technology and harsh additives' became a national buzzword, consumers began scrutinizing ingredient lists with a magnifying glass. The battle on supermarket and e-commerce shelves is no longer just about price, quality, and brand, but also a new war over 'clean ingredients.' From health-conscious Gen Zers to affluent seniors, as 'ingredient-purist consumers' grow in number, the first supermarkets and e-commerce platforms to focus on 'clean ingredients' have already tasted success. 'Ingredient Lists' Have Become a New Battlefield A few months ago, Pangdonglai's private-label black soybean soy sauce was also snapped up as soon as it launched. Besides being priced at nearly 50% less than competitors, its ingredient list was exceptionally simple: only water, non-GMO black soybeans, table salt, and wheat, with no MSG, caramel color, preservatives, or flavor enhancers. In contrast, a certain brand's light soy sauce listed 12 ingredients, including water, non-GMO soybeans, table salt, wheat, monosodium glutamate, high-fructose corn syrup, and potassium sorbate. Pangdonglai's private-label bakery products have also been in high demand. The National Health Commission's new standard prohibiting the use of the common food preservative 'dehydroacetic acid and its sodium salt' took effect on February 8, 2025. But as early as the first half of last year, Pangdonglai's bakery had completely stopped using sodium dehydroacetate. Even earlier, Pangdonglai had refused to use ingredients that could pose potential health risks to consumers, such as cocoa butter substitutes, artificial cream, and hydrogenated vegetable oils. For Zhu Jun, Chief Procurement Officer of Walmart China, the heightened consumer focus on 'clean ingredient lists' became evident in 2024. He found that Walmart's trial development of a salt-free pistachio product sold surprisingly well. 'Today's consumers have reached a new level of demand for natural and healthy products.' In recent years, Chinese consumers' food health awareness has awakened unprecedentedly. In 2023, a third-party survey by JD's No.1 Member Store found that 70% of users had searched for the keyword '0 additives,' and user comments showed a strong demand for 'clean ingredients.' 'My ingredient list is cleaner than my face...' has become the 'new currency' on supermarket shelves and one of the most attractive incentives for consumers to open their wallets. From niche to essential, using the 'cleanest' labels to tell the 'most transparent' stories, the new battlefield for food and retailers is accelerating... What Did the First Winners Do Right? The shorter the ingredient list, the longer the user trust. Decades ago, the trend of 'shorter' ingredient lists swept through the Western food industry. One benchmark for global clean-label initiatives is Whole Foods Market, founded in the U.S. in 1980, which positioned itself as a 'healthy grocery store' from the start and over the next 40-plus years sparked a vigorous 'ingredient list revolution.' In Western markets, the industry typically uses 'Clean Label' to emphasize foods with simple ingredients, minimal processing, and few or no additives. For example, a whole wheat bread's 'clean label' might show only whole wheat flour, water, yeast, and a little salt, with no artificial colors, flavors, or chemical preservatives. These measures allow consumers to quickly identify 'purer' foods, reflecting the progress of the food industry and unlocking a goldmine. According to Mordor Intelligence, the global clean-label ingredients market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6.5% from 2025 to 2030, reaching a market size of $62.43 billion by 2030. No.1 Member Store has over 400 products with clean ingredients on sale This trend has also reached the Chinese market. However, compared to the imported term 'clean label,' domestic retailers have localized it to the more understandable 'clean ingredients.' For example, JD's No.1 Member Store and Dingdong Maicai app both label products that are 'non-essential additives-free' and restore the original taste of food as 'clean ingredients.' Based on the author's analysis, besides food companies, retailers that have taken the lead in the 'clean ingredients' war in the domestic market fall into three categories. The first category is mid-to-high-end supermarkets that entered early. 'Clean ingredients' are linked to quality, health, and naturalness, and serve as a specific label for retailers targeting middle-class and above consumers to highlight their quality. City'super, a Hong Kong-based supermarket that sources premium ingredients globally for elite customers, has always seen natural, clean-ingredient, and organic products as popular categories among its users. 'As younger consumers become the main purchasing force, their particular attention to ingredient lists and sustainability labels has made these products increasingly popular,' a city'super executive told the author. The second category is traditional supermarkets with keen trend insight. They respond to trends promptly based on consumer insights. Sam's Club and Pangdonglai are typical representatives, leading the industry and already reaping the benefits of 'clean ingredients.' Sam's Club has always emphasized staying half a step ahead of its members in product selection. As early as 2021, Sam's Club launched several snacks with 'slimmed-down' ingredient lists. In 2022, Sam's Club announced it would remove or replace a range of ingredients, including talc and formaldehyde, from its product lines by 2025, and completely eliminate artificial flavors and synthetic colors by 2028. 'Clean labels' are also a key strategy for Sam's Club's private brand Member's Mark food categories, with systematic reformulation of recipes and processes. In 2023, Sam's Club launched a series of clean-label products with pure formulas, such as Member's Mark charcoal-grilled pork jerky and organic blueberry juice. The last category is the new e-commerce forces. Representative players include JD's No.1 Member Store and Dingdong Maicai. In June 2023, JD's No.1 Member Store released the industry's first '0-additive' food selection standard, explicitly prohibiting the addition of seven categories of additives in eight food categories, including pastries and snacks. Currently, No.1 Member Store has over 400 'clean ingredient' products on sale. An employee of No.1 Store told the author that 'clean ingredients' is particularly prominent in driving consumer mindset. 'From a consumption trend perspective, the conversion in the snack category is especially outstanding.' Dingdong Maicai is almost the earliest e-commerce platform in China to focus on ingredient lists. In 2021, Dingdong Maicai started with children's food, advocating fewer additives, establishing entry standards for children's food, and launching the 'Mom's Choice' channel. In October 2022, Dingdong Maicai formally proposed the 'clean label' concept, with internal quality control systematically developing subcategory entry standards for bakery, prepared dishes, rice and flour products, beverages, dairy, etc., conducting clean certification for products on sale, and prioritizing products with simpler and more natural ingredients in private brand development and new product screening. To this day, Dingdong Maicai's relevant project teams and quality control departments continue to upgrade and refine these standards. Currently, the Dingdong Maicai app maintains nearly 500 products with the 'clean ingredients' label, and the product list is continuously updated. For products labeled 'clean label' (now 'clean ingredients'), Dingdong Maicai strictly controls them, excluding all additives with 'limited' usage requirements and chemically synthesized additives used 'appropriately,' and strictly banning ingredients such as non-dairy creamer, cocoa butter substitutes, shortening, and flavor-enhancing seasonings. The Dividends and Pitfalls of 'Clean Ingredients' From the consumer side, the surge in 'ingredient-purist consumers' reflects a shift in purchasing logic from 'cost-effectiveness' to 'healthiness.' Gen Zers, who grew up with vast information, are the most powerful 'ingredient-conscious' group. They disdain obscure ingredient lists and are willing to pay for 'health' without hesitation. The silver economy also holds huge market potential. A report by the China Research Center on Aging shows that from 2020 to 2050, the consumption potential of China's elderly population will surge tenfold from 4 trillion yuan to 40 trillion yuan, accounting for one-third of the national GDP. Food accounts for the largest share of elderly spending, and healthy food is a rigid demand for this group. On one hand, the deep value of offering 'clean ingredient' products lies in rebuilding trust between supermarkets and consumers, bringing hidden benefits of user stickiness. A 2022 survey by Twilio Inc. found that 60% of global consumers consider credibility and transparency the most important traits of a brand, surpassing all other attributes. In the domestic market, new e-commerce forces are the winners of trust brought by this differentiated quality. Dingdong Maicai's user base is getting younger. In 2022, the proportion of users under 30 on the Dingdong Maicai platform steadily rose to over 20%, and the 'Mom's Choice' channel, targeting families with children, saw continuous growth in order users and repurchase rates. Having transformed from e-commerce to China's first online membership-based e-commerce in July 2020, No.1 Member Store has built part of its quality and differentiated membership value on 'clean ingredients,' which seems to be working well, with impressive growth in paid members. It is said that as of January 2025, the number of members has exceeded 3.4 million. On the other hand, 'clean ingredient' products, using more natural and pure formulas and adding health attributes, can typically enter the market at higher prices, offering greater profit margins. Ingredion's 2021 global clean-label manufacturer survey found that nearly 80% of manufacturers worldwide had adjusted product formulas for clean labels in the previous two years, and after the switch, average profit margins jumped 11% and pricing increased 18%. But 'clean ingredients' is not a magic key. When consumers are highly concerned about health and safety, it also brings new challenges and issues to the industry. For example, from a scientific perspective, natural ingredients are not always safer, and chemically synthesized ones are not necessarily harmful. Food additives are not scary. In the U.S., there are over 4,000 approved food additives, while China currently allows over 2,000 additives across 23 categories. When consumers pursue 'clean ingredients' or 'clean labels,' both companies and consumers need to view food ingredients and their potential impacts rationally. For instance, some bakery products on the market still have relatively long ingredient lists because product processes require it; some cakes and Western-style pastries are hard to make without leavening agents, acidity regulators, emulsifiers, etc. Demand-side drivers accelerate supply-side changes. The 'clean ingredients' track offers a differentiated competitive direction and opens a 'rapidly rising' blue ocean, but it also faces several major hurdles. An industry insider believes that complex ingredient lists in food often serve two purposes: one is to extend shelf life, and the other is to enhance taste. But abandoning these two demands while still making a good product brings new difficulties. First, how to ensure better taste; second, how to unify standards between retailers and suppliers in co-development; third, the need to pay more for 'cleanliness,' including R&D, new ingredient costs, and even more expensive ingredients. For example, the industry typically makes prepared rice using semi-cooked rice with grains and additives. But Hema's fresh rice uses only rice and water. Breaking down costs and raw materials, the rice quality must be better, and without preservatives, high-barrier oxygen-resistant packaging, nitrogen flushing, and sterilization are needed for physical preservation. So making 'clean ingredient' products requires higher costs in both cost and professional technology than before. Moreover, due to the lack of scientific definition and legal constraints in the domestic market, some companies and products find it hard to gain consumer trust. Only retailers that can truly think from the consumer's perspective, withstand pressure, and meet market demand through technological and model innovation can seize the lead in this transformation. Doing 'clean ingredient' clean labels requires long-term, sustained, and firm investment. Balancing flavor, texture, and shelf life, finding alternative raw materials, and the intensity of execution will all affect the results. In the view of Ning Qiang, General Manager of Hema's ready-to-eat retail, looking to the future, people can only eat better and better. 'Better' has two meanings: first, fresher and tastier; second, healthier. In 2025, Hema's ready-to-eat category, and even the entire Hema, will put a lot of effort into clean labels. Hema's bakery category's clean label plan has been developed and is being gradually implemented. From an industry-wide perspective, 'clean ingredients' has transcended being a mere marketing gimmick and become a 'new ticket' for supermarkets and e-commerce platforms to compete. It is not only a new trend in consumer demand but also a new opportunity on the retail supply side. 'Clean ingredients' is not a multiple-choice question; it is a mandatory question for supermarkets and e-commerce platforms focused on food and beverages. [New Order · Symbiosis] The 10th China FMCG Innovation Conference Time: March 17-19, 2025 Location: Chengdu, China