Soups and Sauces Sector Goes Natural

  • Feb 27, 2024

Making soup from scratch is no easy task, which is why many people prefer prepackaged options. MarkWide research predicts the global soups and sauces market will grow at a CAGR of 4.5% from 2023 to 20281. This growth may be attributed to the rising demand for convenience foods. However, soups and sauces must also deliver on quality. Today, consumers want natural, recognizable ingredients that meet their health needs.
 
Decoding Soup and Sauce Labels
Whether they are canned, dehydrated, or in a foil pouch, premade soups and sauces require preservatives to extend their shelf life. One common preservative is sodium phosphate. Although this ingredient is made from natural elements, eating it in excess can have negative health effects. Multiple studies2 have connected it to cardiovascular and renal malfunctions.
 
Many soup and sauce mixes also contain color and flavor additives to enhance their appearance and taste. Producers might use emulsifiers, thickening agents, starches, and added sugar and salt to recreate the taste, texture, and aroma of homemade condiments.
 
The Clean Label Shift
Of all the recent food labeling trends, clean labels are the most pervasive. Today, food producers use marketing terms like “free-from…” or “pure and natural” to meet the consumer demand for wholesome ingredients they can trust. However, there is considerable confusion about what those ingredients are.
 
When consumers do not recognize an ingredient, they tend to distrust it. For example, additives like E300 and E330 really mean vitamin C and citric acid, which you find in fruits and vegetables. However, using the E-numbers makes the ingredients seem unfamiliar.
 
In the soups and sauces sector, additives are unavoidable. However, how we label them needs to change. Using an ingredient’s household name can make it more appealing, helping you build a better relationship with your customers based on transparency.
 
A Focus on Natural Colors
Color plays an important role in our taste experience—food that looks better often tastes better to the human brain. Fruits and vegetables get their bright colors from flavonoids, carotenoids, and anthocyanins. These plant compounds are good for you because they increase the antioxidant levels in your blood. Unfortunately, they don’t always withstand heat treatment and commercial processing.
 
Take vegetable soup, for example. What starts as a rainbow of raw ingredients often becomes a drab (yet delicious) brown. Over the years, manufacturers started adding synthetic colorings to premade soups and sauces to make them more appealing to the eye. However, concerns over their safety have largely turned people against them.
 
Nowadays, the focus is on natural coloring ingredients. Biotechnology companies like Givaudan and GNT now formulate all-natural color additives for processed and packaged foods. These ingredients obtain pigments from plants, allowing food producers to market their products as artificial-coloring-free.
 
Enhancing Soup and Sauce Flavors Naturally
The ultimate disappointment is a bright, beautiful soup or sauce with a disappointing taste. Without flavor, color means nothing. Although many healthy food producers rely on whole fruits and vegetables for flavor, there is room for natural flavor enhancers. Ingredients like herbs, essential oils, and plant extracts can boost taste profiles significantly.
 
Advanced Biotech’s high-quality natural flavorings are perfect for hearty soups and stews, creamy sauces, and fragrant dressings. Explore some of our customers’ favorite flavorings below:

We source all our ingredients from premium suppliers, with many USDA-certified organic options available. Please contact us for more information about our business, our products, and how to use them in your recipes.

1 https://markwideresearch.com/press-release/delicious-growth-projected-global-soups-and-sauces-market-set-to-reach-25-3-billion-by-2028/
2 https://www.ewg.org/foodscores/ingredients/7347-SodiumPhosphates/