Heinz meanz less salt in its healthier soups

Heinz has changed the recipe of its tomato soup for the first time in nearly a century.

The new recipe has 20 per cent less salt, 18 per cent less fat, 10 per cent less sugar and 13 per cent more tomatoes. The only thing not changing is the price.

Heinz bosses co-ordinated the changeover with military precision - an army of 20,000 "souper troopers" were drafted in to switch millions of tins in British supermarkets.

About 620,000 tins of cream of tomato soup were cleared from shelves and by the end of the week a total of six million tins - including all 13 soups from its "classic" range like minestrone, oxtail and mulligatawny - will have been replaced. All the soup removed from shelves will be donated to the Salvation Army.

The makeover is the company's response to government concerns about levels of salt in food and is also designed to keep pace with changing British eating habits.

The company has added nine new soup flavours, including spicy butternut squash, sweet potato and rosemary, and Mediterranean tomato and bacon.

The new recipes are lower in salt, sugar and fat content by up to 28 per cent, and all are made using only fresh kitchen ingredients.

Heinz spokesman Robin Walker said: "Everyone at Heinz is excited by these new, imaginative and authentic recipes and we want to give our customers these new soups right now.

"This is a huge operation from which consumers and charities will see an immediate benefit."