A SUPERMARKET hopes to serve up a treat for a good cause by giving away cans of soup.

Staff at Tesco in Dorchester have been told not to sell hundreds of tins of Heinz soup because the company has introduced a different style of packaging.

The move has left the store with the option of either throwing away the tins or donating them to a good home.

Bob Norbury, Tesco customer service manager, said: "Heinz has introduced a new line of soup and told all stores to remove and not sell the old line.

"That has left us with a couple of hundred unopened tins of soup to discard with.

"We don't really want to throw them away unless we have to so we thought we would try to give them to a good home. They would be ideal for a local charity for homeless people or something like that.

"All we're asking is that the person collects them today in person because we cannot deliver them."

The removal of the tins is part of a national withdrawal of around 1.6 million cans of Heinz soup.

One charity benefiting from the move is the Salvation Army which has received supplies from a number of local supermarkets.

The soup will be used at drop in centres and local lunch clubs.

Captain Alan Hill, from Weymouth, said: "Three stores in Weymouth have given us nearly a thousand tins and it is all in date until 2006."