Less is more: How simple ingredients are redefining brand trust

By: Ashley Bartreau, VP, Customer Success

About a year ago, I learned how to bake bread. What struck me was how little it took: flour, water, yeast, and salt. Just four ingredients. Then, I went to the store and picked up a loaf of bread. The label was packed with dozens of ingredients, many of which I couldn’t even pronounce – even on the breads that were considered healthy. That moment flipped a switch for me. I began reading every label, and I made a rule: if I didn’t know what an ingredient was, or if there were more than truly necessary, I wasn’t buying it.

Since then, some of my favorite go-to items have been Califia Farms’ three-ingredient organic almond milk, Rao’s pasta products, Chobani nonfat plain Greek yogurt, Ithaca hummus, Purely Elizabeth granola, and the bulk section at Natural Grocers. It turns out I wasn’t alone in this shift – many of my friends have been doing the same thing, focusing on whole foods and stepping away from ultra-processed options.

This personal change has helped me realize that the demand for simple ingredients is more than just a preference. It’s part of a much larger movement shaping how consumers shop, eat, and live. In fact, new Suzy research shows just how widespread this mindset has become.

Consumers are embracing simple ingredients

A demand for safety and simplicity

Suzy’s latest study (n=878) shows that 69% of consumers read the ingredient list when buying a packaged food for the first time – making it the single most common behavior, even more common than checking nutrition facts.¹ Even beyond first purchases, 88% say they read the ingredient list at least sometimes before buying packaged food.¹

Policy is moving in the same direction. The FDA finalized the ban on brominated vegetable oil in July 2024 with a one-year compliance window that ended on August 2, 2025, pushing reformulation across certain beverage categories.

California’s Food Safety Act also prohibits Red Dye 3, brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, and propylparaben starting January 2027. Abroad, the European Union removed titanium dioxide (E171) from the list of authorized food additives in 2022 after a phase-out period. These regulatory shifts keep clean ingredient lists front and center for both manufacturers and shoppers.

This data perfectly validates my own shift. Carefully reading ingredient lists is not just a personal quirk – it’s the most common thing people are doing when making food choices.

Trust and brand perceptions

It’s not just about knowing what’s inside a product. The Suzy research also found that 62% of consumers say they find brands that use simple ingredients more trustworthy.¹ That’s huge. Simplicity isn’t only a health choice – it’s a credibility builder.

This connection between simplicity and trust is echoed in broader industry analysis. As highlighted by MNP, transparency has become one of the defining forces shaping the future of the plant-based food and beverage sector. Brands that openly communicate sourcing practices, production methods, and ingredient integrity are winning over consumers who are increasingly skeptical of marketing claims and hidden additives. The article notes that transparency is no longer just a differentiator – it is a baseline expectation that directly impacts brand credibility and long-term loyalty.

Transparency infrastructure is also in place for brands that lean in. Technology like Yuka, a mobile app that scans barcodes and instantly rates products for health and safety, has made it easier than ever for consumers to verify what’s inside the package and make purchase decisions accordingly.

Consumer desire for more options

And here’s one more powerful finding: 71% of consumers believe there should be more packaged food options made with simple ingredients.¹ That gap between demand and availability signals a massive opportunity for brands. If consumers are asking for simple ingredients and shelves are not meeting them, the brands that deliver first will earn trust and share.

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Market momentum

The numbers beyond Suzy’s study reinforce the trend. U.S. certified organic sales reached a record $71.6B in 2024, up 5.2% year over year. Product developers still put clean labels near the top of the roadmap, with 79% saying it will influence strategy over the next 12–18 months and 61% naming clean-label improvements as their main ingredient priority.

Retailers are scaling simplicity with Private Label offerings. Target’s Good & Gather formulates without synthetic colors, artificial flavors or sweeteners, or high-fructose corn syrup. Kroger reported more than 900 new private brand items in fiscal 2024, including expansions in its Simple Truth natural and organic line.

Coca-Cola’s decision to offer its Mexican Coke product, made with cane sugar rather than high-fructose corn syrup, in the U.S. is a telling example of how consumer and political pressure are shaping product reformulation. For years, Mexican Coke built a loyal following among shoppers who preferred its simpler ingredient profile and perceived it as a cleaner, more authentic option. As debates around the health impacts of corn syrup grew louder – and lawmakers began scrutinizing artificial sweeteners and additives more closely – Coca-Cola responded by leaning into the cane sugar version for U.S. shelves. The move underscores how brands are recognizing that transparency and ingredient integrity aren’t niche preferences anymore, but mainstream expectations that carry both cultural and regulatory weight.

With this kind of momentum, the shift to simple and clean is more than a trend.

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The role of smart insights: Where Suzy fits in

As someone who has personally made this shift, I know firsthand how fast consumer expectations can change. That’s why real-time research is so important. Suzy’s AI-driven insights platform helps brands keep up with consumer sentiment in the moment – whether it’s testing which clean-ingredient claims resonate most or tracking how trust shifts across product categories.

By tapping into tools like MaxDiff and A/B testing, brands can see exactly which messages – like made with natural ingredients or no additives – motivate purchase decisions. With consumer trust on the line, having these insights is invaluable.

Suzy Speaks, Suzy’s AI-moderated voice conversation tool, brings even more depth to the table by helping brands understand the why behind the numbers. When consumers talk through their choices – what makes one label feel more trustworthy than another, or why they associate certain words with “clean” – brands get access to rich, qualitative feedback at a scale that was never possible before. It’s especially useful for unpacking nuance in sensitive topics like food additives or ingredient skepticism.

Beyond individual studies, Suzy Signals helps connect the dots. After each project, Suzy automatically surfaces relevant cultural and category trends, so brands aren’t just responding to consumer input – they’re anticipating what comes next. With clean-label preferences evolving fast, these signals provide critical context to make smarter, faster decisions with greater confidence.

Together, these tools ensure that insights don’t just sit in a deck – they drive action. Whether you’re refining messaging, testing packaging, or preparing for a launch, Suzy helps brands stay in sync with a new kind of consumer: informed, skeptical, and always looking at the label.

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Turning demand for simple ingredients into growth

What began as a personal experiment – baking bread with four ingredients – has turned into a permanent shift in how I shop, eat, and think about the products I buy. Suzy’s research proves I’m not alone: people everywhere are reading labels and rewarding brands that keep it simple.

The rise of simple ingredients is more than a trend. It’s a redefinition of consumer expectations. And with 71% of shoppers calling for more simple options, brands that step up now have an enormous opportunity.

For me, it’s reassuring to know that my small habit of checking labels connects to a much bigger movement. For brands, it’s a call to action: make it simple, make it clean, make it trustworthy.

Want to see how real-time research can help your brand stay in sync with today’s consumers? Book a demo or explore our platform today.

¹Data notes: Suzy original research, August 2025, U.S. consumers ages 18–65, n=878, weighted to national representation, 95% confidence.

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