Healthy Option Meals Not Healthy At All!
A survey of ‘healthy option’ meals and snacks available in restaurants, pubs cafes or sandwich bars in the Midlands region has revealed that 63% of those surveyed contained high levels of either fat, saturated fat, sugar or salt.
64 meals were purchased, analysed and scored according to the Food Standards Agency red amber and green ‘traffic light’ guidlelines. Forty (63%) showed one or more red traffic lights indicating a high level of either fat, saturated fat, sugar or salt. 29 meals and snacks were red for their salt content and 18 for saturated fat. `
Warwickshire Trading Standards purchased eight of the meals used as part of the survey. They included ham and chicken sandwiches, chilli, pasta, rice and tortilla based foods. Five of the eight meals had at least one red light. The worst offender was a chilli con carne meal that was high in fat, salt, and saturated fat. Another of the meals, a salmon and leek pasta bake, that was described as ‘low fat’ contained high levels of both saturated fat and salt.
Mark Ryder, Head of Warwickshire Trading Standards said:
“It is very worrying that so many of the meals and snacks that are promoted in restaurants and other food outlets as ‘healthy options’ are not satisfying the Food Standards Agency guidelines for acceptable levels of fat, saturates, sugar and salt.
These results reveal either a surprising ignorance by caterers of what they are producing or a reckless disregard for what constitutes a healthy meal.
The pace of modern life now means that many more people are eating out on a regular basis than they were 30 years ago. Consumers want to be confident that if they choose the ‘healthy option’ from a menu, they are going to get a healthy meal – but clearly they cannot!”
A healthy diet is essential as we move through our key life phases as children, adults and into old age. What we eat can make a big difference to our health and well-being and affects us differently at each of those phases of our life. Poor diet can lead to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancer and iron deficiency.
The Food Standards Agency has developed a traffic light labelling scheme for prepacked foods. Red means high, amber medium and green low. So, if you see a red light on the front of the pack, you know the food is high in something we should be trying to cut down on, such as salt or fat. This traffic light system is voluntary and only applies to prepacked food sold in shops but not catering establishments.
The results of this survey show that the Food Standards Agency need to take account of this, there is little point in ensuring that consumers are well informed when they buy food for consumption at home, if when they eat out they have little or no information on which to base their purchasing decision.
Consumers should not be discouraged from eating out, but they should be aware that they need to maintain a healthy balanced diet. ‘All You Can Eat Buffets’ may be good for your wallet, but not necessarily good for your heart!
As a result of this work, Trading Standards will be producing an information pack for caterers who wish to develop healthy options for their menus and what claims can be legally made about food and their health implications.
Further follow up work will also be conducted as appropriate.
Information about how to eat out healthily can be found at http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/healthydiet/eatingouthealthily/healthierchoices/
The Survey was conducted by Central England Trading Standards Authorities consisting of 14 authorities working in partnership consisting of: Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Herefordshire, Sandwell, Shropshire, Solihull, Staffordshire, Stoke, Telford & Wrekin, Walsall, Warwickshire, Wolverhampton and Worcestershire.