Clean Label in Bread

Bread is considered a staple food worldwide, and therefore there is much interest in research around the topic. The bread industry is usually looking for ways to improve its formulations. Therefore, other ingredients such as dough conditioners, crumb softeners, emulsifiers, and surfactants can be added to enhance bread quality. These ingredients perform functions such as helping standardize processes in the industry, reducing dough-mixing time, increasing water absorption, improving bread quality, and extending its shelf life. Consumers are concerned about the effect of these ingredients on their health, and this has increased the popularity of clean-label bread formulations. A clean label generally indicates that a product is free of chemical additives, has an ingredient list that is easy to understand, has undergone natural or limited processing, and/or is organic and free of additives or preservatives. However, there is no scientific definition of the term “clean label.” Researchers have focused on these clean-label initiatives to replace dough strengtheners and preservatives in bread formulations and give consumers what they perceive as a healthier product.