How Does Campbell’s Soup Make Cream of Mushroom Soup???? The answer is scary!

Written by Changing Habits

June 17, 2011


Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter” Martin Luther King.

I’m not going to be silent about food companies and food authorities that allow foods on our supermarket shelf that are edible but are making us fat and sick!

My daughter asked me the other day if I would make some Tuna Casserole as I hadn’t made it in quite some time.  It is in my Changing Habits Changing Lives Cookbook.  I had just been in NZ speaking for 10 days was home for less then 24 hours and then off to Ipswich, Dalby and Toowoomba for more talks.  I said to her that I didn’t have the time but that I would get the ingredients for her and she could make it up when she got home from school.  To make it easier I thought I’d go to my local health food store and buy the cream of mushroom soup rather then she having to make the soup (which is part of the recipe)

Amy’s Soups is a trusted brand but when I got to the store they had none in stock.  Being a mother who wants to please I went to the grocery store, to the soup section and picked up Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup.  I looked at the ingredients and saw red.  

I was outraged by the ingredients, so much so that I marched up to the front desk with fury in my eyes and asked the assistant why Woolworths could not stock real food.  Why did everything in the store have to be filled with suspect additives, preservatives and flavourings.  To the assistants credit she calmed me down and tried to find some soup that was real, but alas there was none, she then recommended I buy the mushrooms and make it myself.  Hmmmm – why didn’t I think of that!!!!!

I then called Campbell’s Company and complained and asked if they had any consideration for the health of Australians and that mushroom soup should be made with more then 12% mushrooms.  On the Campbell’s website it says “The Campbell Soup Company is famous for its high quality products.” Let’s just see how high quality they really are.

Basically the soup is made with water and flour to make it thick and then 12% mushrooms and a bunch of fillers to make it taste and look like mushroom soup.  

Suspect foods in the can;
Canola Oil – could be genetically modified, highly refined, low in nutrients and could have some man made antioxidants in order to stabalise the product.

Maize Starch – highly refined odourless and tasteless food substance, used to thicken

Salt – this is probably the refined salt with anti caking agents and bleaches and only two minerals, sodium and chloride (all other minerals have been refined out), if it has been iodised then it has the rock potassium iodate in it.

Soy Protein – I’ve done a whole report on this substance and how it is extracted, it is high in anti nutrients and not something I would consume (for more information read soy report  click here  for more information.

Flavours – this is an generic term. Flavours have up to 48 chemicals within them including solvents, they are made in a chemical laboratory, whether they say they are natural or artificial really makes no difference as they are both made the same way, one just starts with the mushroom but ends up with the same chemical concoction.

Yeast Extract –  Basically this is another way of saying that it is MSG.  When a product is refined to 99% glutamic acid, the FDA requires that the additive be identified on food labels as “monosodium glutamate, when the refinement process results in a product that is less than 99% pure glutamic acid, the product is referred to as a “hydrolyzed protein product”.  A common name for Hydrolized Proteins is “Yeast Extract”.  In other words MSG

Food Colour Caramel III – chemical name 2-acetyl-4(5)-tetrahydroxybutylimidazole – the artificial brown coloring is made by reacting sugars with ammonia and sulfites under high pressure and temperatures. Chemical reactions result in the formation of 2-methylimidazole and 4 methylimidazole, which in government-conducted studies caused lung, liver, or thyroid cancer or leukemia in laboratory mice or rats.  Nice one Campbell’s.

Because I didn’t buy the product I cannot be sure but I would have a guess that the soup tin was probably lined with a white plastic which is probably made from Bisphenol A which leaches into the food.

Bisphenol A – acts an endocrine disruptor, (mimics the body’s own hormones) potentially leading to negative health effects.  Concerns with bisphenol A were first raised as a result of research conducted in the 1930s, however the adverse effects from its endocrine disrupting properties were only first reported in 1997 and have since been extensively investigated with more than 100 published studies raising health concerns about the chemical.  The results from the various BPA research suggest that the greatest period of sensitivity to its effects is in early development (i.e. babies and infants), and it has been linked to obesity and breast cancer  (from www.Greenurlife.com.au)

If I pick apart Campbells I must also pick apart Amy’s and it disappoints me that there is one ingredient in the butter (which does not need to be there) that is suspect: Annatto.

Adverse reactions to annatto 160b can include skin, gastrointestinal, airways and central nervous system reactions and could cause headaches and irritability and others.

The Food Intolerance Network has received many complaints about this additive, including headaches in adults and children, head banging in young children, and irritability, restlessness, inattention and sleep disturbance in children and adults as well as the full range listed above plus arthritis. Reactions to annatto can occur the same day but are more likely to be delayed than reactions to artificial colours, and are therefore more difficult to identify.

Which leaves me with no other choice but to make my own!!!  This is the conclusion I always come to.  Thank goodness I have a Thermomix that helps me do this very quickly.  Cream of Mushroom soup is basically, mushrooms, onions, garlic, white sauce (butter, flour, milk) herbs and sea salt.

You’ll be happy to know that when I got home from Toowoomba I made the mushroom soup and then made my daughter her Tuna Casserole.

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2 Comments

  1. Hungry Man

    Not helpful
    Got it, not super healthy in your books.
    Helpful would be a recipe to recreate the taste of Campbells Mushroom soup from scratch

    Reply

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