Jennifer Lea Reynolds – Last year, Panera announced its promise to ban artificial preservatives, sweeteners, colors and flavors from its foods by the end of 2016. The popular food chain even made publicly available its “No-No” list, which details not only what unhealthy ingredients are being removed, but specifically which items on their menu they’re being removed from.

Thankfully, Panera isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.

The latest good food news to come from Panera is that its soups no longer have any artificial colors, preservatives or flavorings. Those typical ingredients found in commercial soups like soy and corn protein, sodium phosphate and maltodextrin? Gone, says the company. Another feather in their health-conscious cap is the fact that, according to the company, they’re the first national restaurant to provide such “clean” soups.⁽¹⁾

‘All of our soups are catching up now,’ says Panera director

According to Sara Burnett, the director of wellness and food policy at Panera, “No matter which soup you dunk your spoon into, you’ll never slurp a single artificial preservative, sweetener, color or flavor.” She explains that while their All-Natural Turkey Chili and Low-Fat Vegetarian Black Bean have always been clean soups, the entire soup menu – from the Unami Broth in their broth bowls, to their Broccoli Cheddar – is clean. “All of our soups are catching up now,” Burnett says. Continue reading →