Replacing natural aroma ingredients with bouillons in your ham or bacon products—the clear label trend

Do you want some, or all, of your products to meet consumers’ demands for so-called clean labels? Are you looking for a cleaner, clearer ingredient list on your pork products? If so, the solution to replacing the so-called ingredient “natural aroma” might be Sonac’s QBoost Pork Hydro-P Premium.

What is QBoost Pork Hydro-P Premium?

Hydro-P Premium is a hydrolyzed collagen protein powder that’s made from pork bones. The collagen is extracted from porcine bones and broken down into shorter peptides, dried, and then sold as a powder. Because the collagen is broken down into shorter peptides (i.e., hydrolyzed), it’s completely soluble.

Hydro-P Premium works in a variety of pork products like cooked hams, smoked and cooked bacon, sauces, broths and more. Among other benefits, this product will boost protein content, water retention and total product yield. For example, in a trial with cooked ham we found that Hydro-P Premium reduces cooking loss by half and significantly increases total yield. Read more about the results of this study on our Hydro-P Premium product page.

The clean label movement

Clean label is not just a trend or a short-lived fad. It’s become the new norm in the food and beverage industry and an expectation among consumers. Per a survey last fall, conducted by Ingredient Communications (a PR and marketing firm that specializes in the ingredient sector), up to 81 percent of consumers find the label “made with natural ingredients” quite appealing or very appealing, and a similar number (78 percent) reported the label “free from artificial ingredients” as appealing. In fact, most consumers say they’ll pay a premium for a food product with a clean label.

Because the clean label trend is moving from clean to clear labeling, it’s spurring innovation within the industry. For instance, “natural aroma” is not appealing for some consumers, so consumers are leaning into recognizable and pronounceable ingredients, such as bouillon. This is where Sonac’s solutions are most helpful for food producers.

How is Hydro-P Premium listed on an ingredient label?

When you use Hydro-P Premium in a pork product, you can label the ingredient just as “bouillon,” or “broth” or “stock” in the ingredient list. This increases visibility for consumers compared to products that might say, as an example, “natural aroma.”

If you use Hydro-P Premium in a non-pork product, the labeling must specify the origin of the bouillon, meaning it must be labeled “pork bouillon,” “pork broth,” or “pork stock.” For beef products we also offer QBoost Beef Hydro-B.

If you’re interested in learning more about Hydro-P Premium, download our whitepaper "The benefits of hydrolyzed collagen for pork meat" here.

Connect with one of our product specialists to secure a sample of Hydro-P Premium to try yourself.