Ready-to-serve soups

• 249 products were listed for this study

• As soups are often eaten as a meal, their protein content is something to watch out for, as very few of them contain a minimum of 9g per portion (equivalent to 15% of the DV)

• Modified soups provide more sodium than other soups

The results of this follow-up study show few changes in ready-to-serve soups compared with the data collected in 2017. Firstly, sodium and fibre levels are still something to keep an eye on. More specifically, three-quarters of soups are still too high in sodium. Given that modified soups contain less sodium than other products, the efforts already made to reduce sodium levels are encouraging and should be maintained over the coming years. As for fibre, the soups purchased contain less of it compared with the initial picture. Since soups are commonly eaten as a meal, they should contain a minimum of 4g per portion.

• 223 soups were listed for this study
• Legume-based soups represent 30% of the sales volume
• 95% of ready-to-serve soups contain more than the 15% daily value threshold for sodium

The results of this study on the ready-to-serve soups highlight the high degree of variability in terms of nutritional composition, depending on the ingredients, texture, container, but also according to packaging information. These analyses also point to certain areas of improvement, such as the gradual reduction of sodium for the entire soup supply, more particularly for the most purchased soups such as vegetable, starch and protein soups as well as legume soups. The largest sellers of these two types of soups account for nearly two thirds (65%) of the sodium intake from ready-to-serve soups. The classification based on packing information allows an additional analysis of the results. Certified organic soups and natural-looking soups seem to have a better nutritional composition.