Good for the soul? US company launches chicken noodle-flavoured soup candy

American canned soup brand Progresso’s latest concoction – chicken noodle-flavoured sweets called Soup Drops – sold out swiftly after launch on Jan 16, reported US media.

The product resembles cough drops, and unites two flu-time classics – a warm broth and hard candy – into “soup you can suck on” for the height of cold season, parent company General Mills said in a statement on launch day.

According to media outlet PR Week, the novel confection is flavoured just like Progresso’s Chicken Noodle Soup, with hints of broth, savoury greens, chicken, soft egg noodles and parsley.

The soupy sweets will be available through the end of January, also known as national soup month, reported The New York Post.

They are packaged in a Progresso Soup can with 20 individually wrapped candies within.

Each order also comes with a can of actual Progresso Traditional Chicken Noodle Soup.

Comments under the company’s Instagram post of the product on Jan 16 were a blend of horror, glee and amused ambivalence.

Said one user: “Mixture of emotions – happy they exist, sad they are sold out!”

Others expressed their surprise that the post was not satire, while another user simply said: “Ewwwwwwwwwwwww.”