A report revealed today that some pre-packaged shop bought salads have more fat in them than a Big Mac and fries.
Which? has identified options at Morrisons and Asda are the most unhealthy choices.
The Smedleys Atlantic Prawn Marie Rose Salad, available at a few supermarkets including Morrisons, comes in at a whopping 855 calories and 66.3g fat – that’s 70 per cent of a man’s daily calorie allowance.
The Big Mac and medium fries tallies up at 820 calories and 40g of fat.
Creamy sauces seem to be the culprit for the high fat and calorie content, according to the report.
The report identified the discrepency in the labelling of salads, saying it could be difficult for buyers to see the total fat content.
The research revealed that Tesco Tuna Layered Salad only provide the nutrition information for half of the pack, rather than the full salad which has 550 calories and 41g fat.
Martyn Hocking, of Which?, said, “If you thought your high-street salad was healthy, you could be in for a surprise.
“Which? has found that there were large differences between the amount of fat, saturated fat, salt and calories in pre-packaged salads.
“This latest research backs up what we’ve been saying for ages - a clear, consistent labelling scheme is important to help people spot how much fat, sugar and salt is in the food they’re buying.”
However Morrisons have responded by saying the report was “misleading” and did not truly represent the company.
A spokesman said, “Morrisons sells around 1.5 million salads each week, and this particular branded line accounts for less than one tenth of one per cent of those sales.
“The comparison is absurd, Which? Is weighing up a mayonnaise based product against a leafy salad. It’s not comparing like with like.”
A spokesman for Asda said, “We are the only supermarket that gives customers the benefit of traffic light colours, guideline daily amounts, grams of nutrients per portion and the words ‘high’, ‘medium’ and ‘low’ on our products, the very labelling system that Which? is calling for and has recommended by the Food Standards Agency.
“Unlike other retailers, our customers can see at a glance which of our wide range of salads are the healthiest and which are a bit more of an indulgence.”
Sainsbury’s advised their line of salads was variable and had something to suit a wide range of consumers.
A spokesman said, “The salad highlighted by Which? is clearly labelled red for fat but is also labelled green for saturates as it contains only 2.1g of saturated fat as a result of the work we have done to reduce saturate levels across all of our own label ranges. It is also labelled green for salt and sugars.”
Which? studied 20 different salads available on the high street in order to put the report together.
They did find a few “healthy options” including Sainsbury’s Rainbow Salad which contains soya beans and lentils and Sainsbury’s Thai Chicken Noodle is low in fat, salt and sat fat.
Both salads had the dressing on the side in a separate compartment.
Which? is demanding that food companies use a better labelling system in order for shoppers to know exactly how much fat, sugar and salt they are eating.
