Campbell Soup joins plant-based foods group

American shoppers have made their preferences clear over the past decade when it comes to too much sugar and too much salt, and the food industry has been doing its best to keep up.

Campbell Soup Co. has gone further than most. In 2012 it acquired Bolthouse Farms, which sells bagged carrots and salad dressings, and in 2015 it bought salsa and hummus maker Garden Fresh Gourmet.

This summer, in perhaps its boldest move yet, the maker of Prego sauces, Pepperidge Farms cookies, and those iconic red-and-white soup cans left the industry’s top trade and lobbying group, the Grocery Manufacturers Association. Campbell cited the lobbying group’s opposition to labeling whether food contained genetically modified ingredients.

On Monday, another shoe dropped. Campbell Soup announced it was joining the Plant Based Foods Association — a major gesture by an industry giant acknowledging retreating consumer demand for meat- and dairyheavy food.

“We are committed to providing our consumers with food choices that meet their nutrition, well-being and lifestyle needs,” said Ed Carolan, president of Campbell Fresh, the division that includes the Garden Fresh Gourmet and Bolthouse Farms lines. “Working together with the Plant Based Foods Association, we can advance our shared goal of bringing more plant-based foods to consumers.”

Although Campbell’s departure from the GMA means leaving the company of Kraft Foods, Cargill and Coca-Cola, its new friends include the Tofurky Company, Daiya Foods and Beanfields Snacks. The soupmaker stressed that its decision to part ways with the GMA wasn’t linked to its decision to join the PBFA, and there’s no indication that its soups and other products, including meat and dairy, will change. Rather, the company hopes the partnership with PBFA will help it expand access to its plantbased offerings.

In an emailed statement Monday, GMA spokesman Roger Lowe said the group regretted Campbell Soup’s departure, though he added that “it was GMA’s leadership that helped achieve passage in 2016 of a national standard for GMO disclosure.”

For the PBFA, Campbell’s membership is a coup. While it counts more than 80 companies as members, Campbell Soup is by far its largest.