Food giant Heinz was cleared today of misleading the public into believing that its "Farmers' Market" soup range is made from locally-sourced ingredients.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) rejected 25 complaints, inlcuding one form Hamsphire Farmers Markets, made about TV and press adverts for the product, including six from food and farming organisations.
In a four-page judgment, the ASA said TV and press adverts for the soups - which invited the public to "Taste the countryside" - had been unlikely to mislead.
Nineteen members of the public joined food and farming organisations, including Hampshire Farmers' Markets Ltd and The Real Jam and Chutney Co, in complaining to the ASA.
The complaints alleged that the TV advert - featuring the theme tune from The Archers - implied that ingredients used in the soups came from farmers' markets.
But the ASA ruled that Middlesex-based Heinz had lent clarity to the nature of the ingredients used by stating that they were sourced in the UK and other countries.
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