In 2010 the AP reported that Campbell’s was taking more salt out of its soups ...

Feb. 7, 2010
Campbell Soup lowers sodium

(AP) -- Campbell Soup lowered its fiscal 2010 sales forecast Wednesday and said it will improve some of its soups by cutting sodium further and changing their packaging.

The world's biggest soup maker now anticipates full-year sales will rise 2.5% to 3.5%, vs. its prior outlook for a 4% to 5% increase.

One year later, the AP reports soup revenue has -- you guessed it -- taken a big hit …

Feb. 18, 2011
Campbell sales, profit dip; outlook worsens

(AP) -- The Campbell Soup Co.'s fiscal second-quarter income fell 8 percent as soup revenue slipped, the company said today.

The quarterly decline was expected, but it came with some other bad news from the food maker. The outlook for the rest of the year is cloudy enough that Campbell lowered its guidance for the second time in about three months.
Campbell says it now expects full-year revenue to be essentially flat -- between a 1 percent decline and 1 percent growth, and earnings per share to fall by 1 percent to 3 percent.

The breaking news out of Canada this morning was that the Canadian Government has disbanded the Health Canada Sodium Working Group , a full five years before it completed its program of tracking whether companies were reducing the level of salt in processed foods. In a stunning blow to Canada’s anti-salt zealots, it appears that someone may have asked for the actual evidence of benefit rather than simply accepting activist-driven overstatement.

This Canadian action follows those in the United Kingdom to abolish the dietary mandate of the FSA (Food Standards Agency), the government unit most actively involved in salt reduction advocacy.

Kudos to those governments that demand actual evidence before proceeding to provide solutions for which there are no problems. It’s time our health policies move away from ideology back to science, where they belong.