No More Chicken Soup For The Soul

There is really nothing fun to write about the stock markets, and the politics in Thailand and Malaysia are so "up in the air" that you even long for the haze to be back. Meanwhile, there should be recall in Campbell Soups, yup, the ones manufactured in Malaysia.

The Standard HK: Health chiefs have warned people not to eat two varieties of one of the city's most popular soups as hundreds of thousands of cans were cleared from supermarket shelves.

The move to take certain flavors of Campbell's Soup off the market came after complaints that some cans gave off a bad smell when opened.

Campbell's Soup is recalling 14,000 cases - about 330,000 cans - of two varieties, the 405g cans of condensed cream of mushroom soup and the 410g cans of condensed creamy chicken mushroom soup in Hong Kong and Macau.

Campbell Soup Asia said there are no problems with the smaller cans of the two soups.

The company said it decided on the recall after it received three complaints in the past week of a bad smell when the cans were opened.

"We haven't received any health complaints and there is no evidence these products will pose any risks to health and security but, with our commitment to quality, we've decided to recall them," a company spokeswoman said.

The Centre for Food Safety told people to stop eating the products concerned and said these soups were produced from November 2007 to August 2008 and that there were about 350,000 cans on the market. Campbell's said they were produced in Malaysia.

The center has urged consumers not to buy the products and has informed retailers to stop selling the soups. It also plans to do random checks to ensure the cans are not being sold.

ParknShop and Vanguard supermarket chains said customers who bought the products should bring their receipts to receive refunds or store credit. A spokeswoman for Wellcome has said that customers will need a receipt to get refunds, but Campbell's insists it has an agreement that ensures consumers may return cans to Wellcome without a receipt.

The Consumer Council said people with cans of the soup are entitled to refunds even without supporting receipts. "The supermarkets should help their customers return the products to increase their shopping confidence," a council spokesman said.

Although it remains unclear whether consumer confidence in Campbell's soups has been shaken by the recall, some people are concerned.

Wong Shek-hung, who usually keeps two to three cans of Campbell's soup at home, said she may stop buying them in the future.

"I may stop buying if there are a lot of complaints. Who knows what's in the cans?"

ParknShop and Wellcome said all the affected products were taken off the shelves yesterday, but they had yet to tally how many cans were removed.

p/s photos: Annie Wu