Consumers in industrialized countries are nowadays much more interested in information about the production methods and components of the food products that they eat, than they had been 50years ago. Some production methods are perceived as less "natural" (i.e. conventional agriculture) while some food components are seen as "unhealthy" and "unfamiliar" (i.e. artificial additives). This phenomenon, often referred to as the "clean label" trend, has driven the food industry to communicate whether a certain ingredient or additive is not present or if the food has been produced using a more "natural" production method (i.e. organic agriculture). However, so far there is no common and objective definition of clean label. This review paper aims to fill the gap via three main objectives, which are to a) develop and suggest a definition that integrates various understandings of clean label into one single definition, b) identify the factors that drive consumers' choices through a review of recent studies on consumer perception of various food categories understood as clean label with the focus on organic, natural and 'free from' artificial additives/ingredients food products and c) discuss implications of the consumer demand for clean label food products for food manufacturers as well as policy makers. We suggest to define clean label, both in a broad sense, where consumers evaluate the cleanliness of product by assumption and through inference looking at the front-of-pack label and in a strict sense, where consumers evaluate the cleanliness of product by inspection and through inference looking at the back-of-pack label. Results show that while 'health' is a major consumer motive, a broad diversity of drivers influence the clean label trend with particular relevance of intrinsic or extrinsic product characteristics and socio-cultural factors. However, 'free from' artificial additives/ingredients food products tend to differ from organic and natural products. Food manufacturers should take the diversity of these drivers into account in developing new products and communication about the latter. For policy makers, it is important to work towards a more homogenous understanding and application of the term of clean label and identify a uniform definition or regulation for 'free from' artificial additives/ingredients food products, as well as work towards decreasing consumer misconceptions. Finally, multiple future research avenues are discussed.

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Nowadays, there is a growing interest to add value to food industry by-products and incorporate 26 them as new ingredients for novel food products. However, there is very little knowledge about consumers' reactions towards novel food products made with upcycled ingredients. This 28 manuscript provides the first critical scientific investigation of UK consumers' preferences for 29 novel food products made with upcycled ingredients using four attributes: price (£0.40/300 g pack 30 or £1.50/300 g pack), flour ("with wheat flour" or "with upcycled sunflower"), protein ("source of 31 protein" or no information) and Carbon Trust label ("with Carbon Trust label" or no label). Using a 32 hypothetical ranking experiment involving biscuits, results showed that consumers prefer biscuits 33 made with conventional (i.e., wheat) flour and tend to reject biscuits made with upcycled sunflower 34 flour. Results suggest there is heterogeneity in consumers' valuation, with three groups identified: 35 the first group with price sensitive consumers and the strongest preferences for low price biscuits, 36 the second group with traditionalist consumers and strongest rejection for upcycled sunflower-37 flour, the third group with environmentalist consumers and the strongest preference for biscuits 38 with the Carbon Trust label. Most consumers had not heard of upcycled ingredients before, but 39 they would consider buying foods with upcycled ingredients. These findings provide insights into 40 the psychology of consumers' preferences, which can be used to most effectively communicate the 41 benefits of upcycled ingredients to the public. This will also have important implications for future 42 labelling strategies for policy makers providing valuable insights to upcycled food products' 43 manufacturers.