Date:
02/18/2008 02:28 PM
AP NewsBreak: Campbell's reducing sodium in 4 dozen more soups
By GEOFF MULVIHILL
Associated Press Writer
MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. (AP) _ The Campbell Soup
Co.'s kid-oriented soups, which feature characters such as
Dora the Explorer and Batman on the cans, are getting their
second sodium reduction in three years, the company announced
Monday.
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 V8 vegetable
juice and SpaghettiO's pasta.
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.
