Campbell Soup sodium reduced
MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. (AP) - February 18, 2008 This time, the 12 soups for kids will have 480 milligrams per
serving, which means the company can legally label them as healthy
foods for the first time.
"Your kids can enjoy Dora the Explorer even more," said
Douglas R. Conant, Campbell's president and chief executive, said
in an interview. "They'll be down to heart-healthy levels."
For Camden-based Campbell's, high sodium levels have been a big
health concern for decades for products that are otherwise
generally healthy.
Two years ago, the company began using sea salt - where it comes
from is kept secret - to reduce sodium in a number of its products.
The sea salt is being used in a growing number of soups, as well as
SpaghettiO's pasta. The company has also reduced sodium in V8
vegetable juice.
As more people become health conscious, lower-salt soups have
become a big business for the world's largest soupmaker. In 2003,
it sold $100 million worth of reduced-sodium soups. Now, Campbell's
says, the lower-salt soups are bringing in $650 million a year in
retail sales.
Initially, sodium levels in the kids' soups were brought down an
average of 25 percent. This year, they'll be brought down another
20 percent.
The company also announced Monday that it is reformulating 36
ready-to-serve soups and giving them a new brand name: "Campbell's
Select Harvest."
All the soups sold in cans and microwavable bowls currently
labeled "Campbell's Select" will be called "Campbell's Select
Harvest." The more upscale soups sold in boxes under that label
will not be part of the new line.
While they will be lower in sodium, the "Campbell's Select
Harvest" soups cannot be labeled as healthy because they will not
meet other federal government criteria for areas such as fat and
cholesterol.
In all, 48 Campbell's soups are getting makeovers this year,
bring to 85 the total number soup varieties that have had their
sodium reduced since 2006.
Some of the soups being reformulated this year will ship as
early as June. All of them are to be widely available by fall,
Conant said.
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On the Net:
Campbell Soup Co.: http://www.campbellsoup.com