Campbell's Hopes Recipe Change Will Boost Sales

So long, celery
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 10, 2015 4:20 PM CST
Campbell's Hopes Recipe Change Will Boost Sales
Campbell's is changing the recipe to its children's chicken noodle soup to make it more natural. The adult version is safe. For now.   (AP Photo/J. David Ake)

Campbell's is tinkering with its chicken soup recipe to appeal to millennials, multicultural families, and same-sex parents—among others, the New York Times reports. The company is removing ingredients that have fallen out of favor with customers—potassium chloride, monosodium glutamate, disodium inosinate, and, um, celery, to name just a few—in an effort to shore up flagging sales. “We’re closing the gap between the kitchen and our plants,” Campbell Soup CEO Denise Morrison tells the Times. While most of the changes were made with an eye on more natural ingredients, celery apparently fell victim to child taste-testers. All told, the new recipe includes only 20 ingredients to the old recipe's 30.

But don't worry if you're a fan of classic Campbell's chicken soup in all its disodium guanylate goodness. NPR reports the changes will only affect children's chicken soup containing noodles shaped like Star Wars and Frozen characters. After a minor change to the recipe in 2011, this more complete overhaul took Campbell's chefs two months of tinkering, according to the Times. NPR reports the company may or may not make similar changes with its classic chicken soup recipe. But company chefs are already attempting to remove high-fructose corn syrup from Campbell's tomato soup, according to the Times. “It’s a delicate balance because these products are beloved,” one Campbell Soup executive says. (If fewer ingredients can't save Campbell's, maybe instant soup pods can.)

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