Campbell Soup Company released a new strategic direction that will focus health and innovation, but includes reneging on a strategy to reduce salt in Feburary of this year according to comments and reports this week from the food manufactering giant. The company will expand on category platforms in its three core categories of simple meals, baked snacks and healthy beverages; consumer driven innovation in products and packaging as the primary driver of organic growth.

In February 2010, Campbell Soup announced that it would re-formulate over 60% of its condensed soups to reduce the sodium content of 23 of them up to 45%. With high salt diets having been previously linked to cardiovascular disease in medical studies, this is a huge win for the public.

Last week the company’s CEO-elect, Denise Morrison, made another announcement that the company is putting the salt back in.

Morrison believes that lower salt levels have translated to lower taste for their customers, and that the tweaked offerings may have been responsible for the flagging financials. The company hopes to tempt soup-lovers back by increasing sodium levels up to about 650mg per serving (they had been brought down from 800mg to 480mg) in many of the cans in their Select Harvest line.

Chief Operating Officer Denise Morrison, who will become the company’s president and chief executive officer on Aug. 1, 2011 stated:

“During the past nine months, Campbell’s new leadership team has worked closely with the board of directors on a comprehensive strategic review in which we have examined our business with fresh eyes, and charted a new course for our company. We believe that the strategic transition we are announcing today will set the stage for a new chapter of profitable net sales growth and sustainable growth in total shareholder returns. Implementing our new strategic direction will require substantial investment to fund our new innovation process, accelerate innovation across our portfolio and reinvigorate consumer-focused marketing to expand the equities of important brands.”

According to research by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average American adult currently consumes 3,436 mg of salt a day.

With an estimated 75% of our salt intake coming from processed and packaged foods, 2011 USDA guidelines mention:

“An immediate, deliberate reduction in the sodium content of foods in the marketplace is necessary to allow consumers to reduce sodium intake to less than 2,300 mg or 1,500 mg per day [for those aged 51+, all African Americans, plus anyone with hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease] now.”

So what gives? Morrison adds in a release:

“When you look at Campbell a few years from now, you will see a company with a broader and stronger flywheel for growth. We will be better balanced across our product portfolios and in our international footprint, better positioned to compete based on our impressive brand strengths, and better equipped to respond to the evolving needs of both our loyal consumer base and other important consumer groups. We are fully committed to this strategic transition, convinced that it is the right course for our shareholders and inspired by the opportunity to lead an exciting new era of growth at Campbell.”

Let’s see how this effects the population, cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure. Business is business, but health is health. The debate rages on.

Sources: Campbell Soup Company Investor Relations, The USDA and The CDC

Written by Sy Kraft