Mr RH Wroe-Street from Cape Town complained to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that the Knorr Cup-a-Soup Lamb and Vegetable was misleading consumers and wasn't meaty at all
The complainant "pointed out that when reading the contents on the reverse of the packaging, it is clear that there is no lamb."
Wroe-Street lost his case and Unilever, the manufacturer of the ready-to-eat soup has been vindicated.
In it's response to the complaint Unilever submitted to the ASA that it's packaging was clearly labelled.
"The Respondent pointed out that if one compares the labelling of Royco Original which does not contain real meat in its ingredients, it is referred to as "Lamb & Vegetable flavour”, whilst Royco Creamy Chicken which does contain chicken is thus appropriately labelled as "Creamy Chicken,” the ASA says in it's ruling.
Knorr Cup-A-Soup - Pic from Facebook
The ruling also gave some insight into the making of the soup powder
In the ruling it's revealed: "...the back of pack of the product details the ingredient list and "lamb extract” is specified to indicate the inclusion of real lamb into the product as it is made from actual lamb chunks. By virtue of the nature of the product and its intended use, the real lamb contained in the product is vacuum dried and ground down to a fine texture, in order that it may be packaged into the desired "dry” format."
The claim was dismissed but not before the ASA pointed out that it's unreasonable to expect "lumps of meat" in your Cup-a-Soup: "While the Directorate understands that 0,01% lamb extract may be a very low amount in the eyes of the consumer, the product does contain lamb, and contrary to the complaint, the ingredients do indicate this. The Directorate also noted that the nature of the product is such that the hypothetical reasonable consumer would not expect lumps of meat such as those shown on the picture."