Half of all shoppers are concerned about artificial ingredients in the foods they consume, and nearly three-quarters of shoppers (71%) think the US should follow Europe’s lead in enforcing restrictions on those ingredients, according to a new study by Acosta Group.
Shoppers are also more closely inspecting the labels on food and beverage items, according to a survey of 1,083 members of Acosta Group’s proprietary Shopper Community in September.
Food and beverage manufacturers are finding that consumers are searching for the presence of ingredients that may be harmful.
Transparency matters
The survey found that 58% of shoppers are looking at labels all or most of the time, according to Kathy Risch, SVP thought leadership and shopper insights, Acosta Group.
Consumers are not just looking to ensure the product does not contain potentially harmful ingredients; they also want to know what functional benefits the product offers, she said.
“This new study helped us understand that it’s going even beyond bad ingredients to really what’s also the functional benefit, whether it’s gut health, protein, fiber for weight management, or any other aspect of their lives,” she said.
The trend is sticking, according to Mark Rahiya, group president of omnichannel sales and services, Acosta Group, who noted that label reading is becoming routine for many shoppers.
“Consumers are actively seeking ingredients that support specific health goals. That creates an opportunity for natural and organic brands to connect through transparency and clearly communicated benefits,” he said.
Allergies a concern
Allergy concerns should be a priority for CPG companies when considering how labels read, according to Risch.
“Over 25% of US shoppers have someone in their household with an allergy or sensitivity to ingredients in foods, beverages or beauty products, and 76% of these shoppers are reading labels all or most of the time,” according to the report. “These shoppers called out natural and specialty stores as the highest-rated for assortment selection.”
Risch said it is critical to develop labels that are easy to read and understand regarding allergens.
How does AI fit in?
Transparency is even more important with the rise of agentic artificial intelligence, where AI agents shop autonomously, according to Stephanie Nelson, VP of performance and commerce media within the connected commerce division, Acosta Group.
“Brands need to really start to think about it in this agentic fashion,” she said. “How are the large language models and the different agents out there going to be able to help that consumer shopper journey to identify those things [such as artificial ingredients]?”
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Consumers don’t have time to read 50 product detail pages and will increasingly turn to AI and AI agents to do that work for them, so that content needs to be there, she said.
“So what we’re really discovering with brands is they think that they’re SEO ready – they’re discoverable, but they’re not discoverable in the new way in which the consumer wants to consume content and start that shopping journey,” she said.
Meanwhile, AI-powered platforms operate differently and in some cases block one another. Amazon is not allowing other AI models to access its vast network of retail products, Nelson said. Instead, Amazon is directing consumers to its own internal chatbot Rufus.
“If that consumer journey started through the Amazon ecosystem, you’re now reliant on Rufus and how Rufus is going to scrape your product detail pages and recommend products,” she said. “The way Rufus recommends products and the way ChatGPT recommends products are very different. It is fascinating to take multiple agents to ask them the same prompts and you get very different answers. And so you have to be prepared as a brand for all of those dynamics.”
