Campbell Soup will exit the Grocery Manufactures Association by the end of the year part of an effort to become a more "purpose-driven" company, CEO Denise Morrison told investors Wednesday.

The decision to leave the $39 million-revenue GMA was not "financial" but "rather driven by our purposes and our principles," Morrison said at an investor invent. The company is seeking to emphasize transparency to appeal to a broader range of consumers, particularly millennials, the news site MarketWatch reported.

In recent months Campbell Soup has been cutting staff and slashing budgets to boost profitability, Bloomberg News reported. One of the chief challenges for the company has been growing consumer demand for "boutique" brands, fresh and organic foods, and healthy eating choices. https://bloom.bg/2vFwFiG

"As we continue to evolve as a purpose-driven company, many of our beliefs have diverged from the rest of the food industry and from our trade association," Morrison said in comments provided to CEO Update by a Campbell Soup spokesperson. "To that end, we have decided to withdraw from the Grocery Manufacturers Association at the end of this calendar year."

GMA has been a frequent target of criticism by self-styled healthy food advocates because the association represents large food industry corporations. The group also has fought proposed laws requiring labels on genetically modified foods, although in 2015 the association along with the Food Marketing Institute debuted SmartLabel, a voluntary labeling initiative.

GMA also helped convinced Congress to pass a nationwide GMO labeling standard that was less restrictive than the state labeling laws it superseded.

"It was GMA's leadership that helped achieve passage in 2016 of a national standard for GMO disclosure, " GMA spokesman Roger Lowe told MarketWatch. "We support an option that can provide consumers more information about GMOs than could ever fit on a label."

Lowe added that SmartLabel is expected to be used by 30,000 products by the end of the year. http://on.mktw.net/2tu15HZ

MORE CEO DATELINE

• Brewery pulls out of Brewers Association in 'free speech' protest
• Medical associations urge new approach to health care reform
• Internet Association blasts ally for criticism of hospital-stricken lawmaker
• ASAE speaks out against resurrected Texas bathroom bill
• Pharmaceutical group challenges North Dakota laws