A look at the state of product reformulation

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A look at the state of product reformulation

28 Nov 2025

Maddie Lambert

Maddie Lambert is a copywriter and editor from Joplin, MO. She graduated from Missouri Southern State University with a Bachelor of Arts in English – literary studies. When she’s not poring over the magazine or lost in the pages of a new novel, you can find Maddie exploring her local bookstores, spending time with her husband, or sharing her latest literary discoveries with fellow book enthusiasts.

KANSAS CITY, MO — Remember back in 2014, when Vani Hari, known around the blogosphere as “Food Babe,” sent the commercial baking industry into upheaval with her petition against Subway?

Hari called for the sandwich chain to remove the dough conditioner azodicarbonamide (ADA) from its bread, noting the chemical was also used in the manufacturing of yoga mats and shoe rubber. Even though ADA had GRAS status from the FDA, the petition still sent shock waves through the industry, causing bread suppliers — not only for Subway but in channels everywhere — to drop everything and reformulate.

In an ideal world, a clear set of initiatives is outlined in advance of the reformulation process and its several stages. Before R&D teams can roll up their sleeves and get to work, they must understand what’s driving the reformulation. Whether the need is related to nutritional targets, cost considerations or consumer perception, it’s crucial to identify potential ingredients that contribute to the end goal without sacrificing the quality of the finished product.

“That involves looking into technical data, regulatory status, functional properties and perhaps consulting with supplier partners to review market benchmarks and consider consumer perception areas,” said Kendall Howie, principal food scientist at the Middleby Bakery Innovation Center. “It’s not just about finding an ingredient that ‘works.’ It’s also about finding one that aligns with the product, brand identity and production realities.”

Once the process moves to benchtop trials, the abstract formulation comes to life on a smaller scale to assess feasibility in a controlled setting. From there, qualitative assessment becomes a crucial step for spotting early red flags in terms of appearance, flavor, aroma and texture. Raising those flags early provides time to screen different ingredient levels before testing at scale and completing full production trials.

In the case of the ADA disruption, the truncated timeline and quick-turn decisions risked missteps at any part of such a nuanced process.

“It takes time to rebuild because you have to understand the matrix you’re putting the product into,” said Sherrill Cropper, PhD, new product development lab manager for Lesaffre North America. “We have to understand exactly what parameters can and cannot be changed, and as we start trying to hit the specific formulation change that’s required, we have to keep the product’s integrity.”

Fast-forward a decade, and the court of consumer opinion still has significant sway over product development. Today, consumers are pushing for fewer synthetic additives for foods with cleaner labels. They’re also paying closer attention to the legacy ingredients used in traditional snacks and asking deeper questions about whether they’re safe and how they’re processed … and manufacturers should take heed.

“We’re seeing a push to prioritize natural and sustainable ingredients, and that often necessitates the removal of artificial flavors, colors, preservatives and additives of that nature,” Howie said. “But it’s not as simple as just swapping one ingredient for another. It’s more about rethinking the structure, function and relationship of those ingredients.”

“We’re seeing a push to prioritize natural and sustainable ingredients … but it’s not as simple as just swapping one ingredient for another. It’s more about rethinking the structure of those ingredients.” — Kendall Howie | principal food scientist | Middleby Bakery Innovation Center

While the push is at the forefront of product development now, the trend has been gaining momentum for several years.

For instance, Houston-based The Sola Co. reformulated its breads, buns and bagels in 2023 to become keto-certified and free of saturated fats, artificial flavors, colors and preservatives. Sola relies on an all-natural preservative system to maintain taste while naturally extending shelf life. Reformulating allowed the bread manufacturer to expand into natural and organic channels.

Label cleanup is the name of the game right now. Baking companies are seeking resources to do so, whether it’s replacements for DATEM, L-cysteine, mono- and diglycerides, or label-friendly alternatives to sodium stearoyl lactylate.

There’s one word consumers will surely recognize — and accept — in their foods: fermentation.

According to Precedence Research, the global fermented foods market size accounted for $247 billion in 2024 and is expected to increase to almost $395 billion by 2034, with the fermented confectionery and bakery products segment expected to grow at the fastest rate during this forecast period.

For bakers, this means there’s white space to experiment with recipes and integrate fermented ingredients into their portfolios. And, with consumer demand for clean labels reaching a near fever pitch, there’s room for the use of these ingredients beyond bread. Pastries, fillings and doughs can also serve as vessels for experimentation, and brands can introduce new flavors and packaging formats to make fermented foods even more accessible and appealing to a wider range of shoppers.

“It helps that consumers know yeast, they know fermentation, and they know some of those aspects up front,” Dr. Cropper said. “It’s not as big a challenge to overcome when the ingredients on the package appear friendly to the consumer.”

Hand-in-hand with fermentation are enzyme technologies, and, according to Jason Tucker, Industrial Pilot Bakery supervisor for Puratos USA, they’re the future.

“As bakers clean up their ingredient lists, enzymes are going to become the heavy hitter from a formulation standpoint,” he said. “Whether it’s from the shelf-life perspective or the dough-strengthening perspective, enzymes can do almost anything bakers need them to do in
a formula.”

This has been adapted from the October | Q4 2025 issue of Commercial Baking. Read the full story in the digital edition here.

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