MINNEAPOLIS – General Mills’ Progresso Soup brand now uses 100 percent antibiotic- and hormone-free chicken for all of its chicken soup varieties. According to a company statement, Progresso is the first large retail soup brand in the US to offer antibiotic- and hormone-free chicken breasts in its soups. In addition, Progresso contains no artificial flavors and has removed artificial color from 60 percent of its soups. The company has plans to be 100 percent free of artificial colors by 2019.

“Our purpose and passion is to make great soup just like you’d make it at home. In an effort to continuously raise our quality standards, we listen to our consumers,” Ray Joncas, director of marketing at Progresso, said in a statement. “So when we asked our consumers what they wanted most, we found that antibiotic-free and hormone-free chicken was what they wanted most.”

The ingredient updates will span Progresso’s full lineup of chicken soups including Traditional, Light, Reduced Sodium, and Rich & Hearty lines, including its most popular varieties, Chicken Noodle, Chicken Wild Rice and Chicken Dumpling. Progresso also will debut new packaging to highlight and reinforce the changes.