Statement from the International Food Additives Council on
Panera’s “No No List” of Food Ingredients
On May 6, 2015 the Panera Bread Company published the “No No List,” a compilation of
ingredients they either do not use or intend to remove from menu items by 2016. The list
follows a June 2014 Panera announcement stating they would be removing “artificial” food
additives and ingredients from their products by 2016 to further their goal of offering foods made
with “clean” ingredients.
There is nothing “dirty” about the ingredients on the “No No List.” Panera has listed ingredients
that have been used safely in foods for decades and boast extensive scientific data to support
their continued use. Rather than base their food ingredient decisions on sound science, Panera
has chosen to capitalize on the public’s lack of knowledge about modern food production and
fear of ingredients that sound or look unfamiliar. While this has been valuable marketing for
Panera, it is not responsible corporate citizenship. Panera, like all food industry members, has a
responsibility to educate the public on food ingredients based on science, history of use and
product testing. We should not perpetuate the fallacies that have been published by unqualified,
self-proclaimed food “experts” and anti-science activist groups.
The International Food Additives Council (IFAC) is disappointed that Panera has chosen to
vilify certain ingredients through the promotion of its “No No List.” Panera and others are
reacting to misinformation rather than educating the public with accurate information.
Pronouncements like Panera’s lack integrity and do little to inform consumers, much less help
them make smart food choices. Instead, they wrongly give the impression that the use of
additives is unhealthy. There are countless ingredients that might sound unfamiliar or have
chemical-sounding names, but that does not mean they are unsafe or should be avoided. Take
for instance the common banana. Bananas contain phenylalanine, an essential amino acid,
linoleic acid, an essential fatty acid, and ethyl hexanoate, a common ingredient used in flavors.
Most laypeople have probably never heard of these or the numerous other compounds in bananas
and might assume they are unnatural because of their names. This assumption would be wrong.
Despite these strange sounding compounds found in the fruit, no one is saying that we should
eliminate bananas from our diet.
According to Ron Shaich, Panera’s chief executive officer, his customers want to eat better, but
are not always sure how to do that. So Panera has embarked on a campaign to “give people a
simple, easy, Good Housekeeping seal-of-approval kind of approach to it.” We agree that people
are not always sure how to eat better and that the foodservice industry has a tremendous
opportunity to inform consumers and provide them with healthy options. But this is exactly why
Panera’s campaign and list are so problematic. They increase alarm by calling out useful
ingredients without considering why they are used in food or what data exists to support their
safety.
The ingredients on Panera’s list do not need a “Good Housekeeping’s Seal of Approval” because
they have already been determined to be safe by numerous regulatory bodies around the world,
including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. While many of the substances on the list may
be unfamiliar to some, they are very familiar to regulators, toxicologists and food scientists who
study them extensively before and after they are permitted for use in foods. These thorough
safety reviews should instill consumer confidence in these ingredients. Unfortunately, by casting
doubt on these ingredients simply because they are not familiar to consumers or are difficult to
pronounce, Panera undercuts the authority of these regulatory bodies, insults food technologists
and takes advantage of consumers by suggesting they are protecting public health by removing
them.
IFAC supports comments from many organizations which suggest Panera should focus on
portion size, calorie content, and other nutritional factors if they really want to make their food
healthier. While cutting calories could contribute to benefitting public health, removing safe,
functional ingredients simply because they sound “artificial” does not. The food industry
watchdog Center for Science in the Public Interest may have said it best when they stated, “just
because something is artificial or its name is hard to pronounce doesn’t mean it’s unsafe.”
Panera’s promotional campaign around the “No No List” suggests that they are reformulating
products with fewer or simpler ingredients; yet, they will likely find it hard to use fewer
ingredients while retaining the appealing qualities of the original recipes. Panera will find that
taste, texture and appearance will be challenging to maintain without many of the ingredients on
the “No No List.” They should be prepared to receive negative consumer feedback from
customers who are disappointed about the taste or appearance of the new products.
In some cases, Panera may even end up having to use more ingredients in its “simplified” recipes
to make a similar product. For example, Panera’s reformulated Greek salad dressing will contain
19 ingredients, as opposed to 18 contained in the original recipe. Reformulation may also force
Panera to add more sugar, salt and animal fats to maintain flavor and texture, which leads to
more calories and could actually make Panera’s foods less healthy.
IFAC respects the rights of companies to offer products it believes its customers want. However,
Panera has a responsibility to ensure that the statements it makes and the positions it publicly
promotes about nutrition and food ingredients are based on facts. Playing on consumer fear by
calling out ingredients that are unfamiliar is not responsible or even helpful and will not lead
consumers to make healthier food choices; it appears to be a self-serving marketing tactic.
Ultimately, Panera’s decision to remove the safe ingredients on “The No No List” from products
is not likely to result in making its foods any healthier for its customers.