Children’s health is being put at risk by family restaurants whose menus contain ‘jaw-dropping’ amounts of salt, fat and sugar, an investigation has found.
The damning television exposé, which investigated some of Britain’s best-loved dining chains, found a single meal from some children’s menus contained more than a child’s recommended daily calorie intake, along with high levels of ingredients linked to obesity and heart disease.
Many of the menus designed for children failed to offer any healthy options and provided only limited nutritional information to help guide choices, while others did not include any vegetables.
‘Jaw-dropping’: Sophie Morgan found meals that were dosed in salt, fat and sugar
Some chains also appeared to incentivise children to choose the least healthy options by making them seem ‘more colourful and exciting’, making it difficult for well-meaning parents to manage their choices.
The worrying probe, carried out by presenter and Mail on Sunday writer Sophie Morgan for the new series of Channel 4’s Tricks Of The Restaurant Trade, comes amid mounting concern over levels of childhood obesity in the UK.
The programme sent a family from Croydon to four high-street chains which are well-known for being family-friendly and have menus designed for the under-12s.
Leanne and Kevin Edwards, with their sons Maxwell, seven, and three-year-old Nathaniel, gave their feedback on the meals, while nutritionist Amanda Ursell calculated the nutritional value of each one.
Sophie said: ‘What’s really scary is that, without parents realising, the calorie, sugar, fat and salt content of these meals is almost unknown and it’s flying up.
‘Our analysis was really, really shocking. We compared the fat, sugar, salt and calorie content to a child’s recommended daily intake and some of it was jaw-droppingly bad – more than a child should have over an entire day, in one meal.
‘It’s easy for children to get over-excited when they’re eating out and it’s difficult for parents to manage what they want to order. But in some cases it felt like kids were being incentivised to order the unhealthy stuff – for example, by making it fun to help themselves to a really calorific dessert.
‘There were alternatives offered in some cases – switching chips for a salad or a fizzy drink for a juice – but water was never offered.’
One British child in five is obese by the time he or she starts school at four. In response to the spiralling epidemic, the UK has been at the forefront in persuading schools and food and beverage manufacturers to reduce the amount of salt, fat and sugar content in meals designed for children.
Sophie said: ‘What’s really scary is that, without parents realising, the calorie, sugar, fat and salt content of these meals is almost unknown and it’s flying up
But the investigation proves there is still a long way to go in the restaurant industry. Sophie said classic ‘children’s meals’, such as fish fingers, chips and beans, were ‘outdated’ and lacked the attention given to adult choices.
‘There are these funny habits we’ve got into when we’re out with our kids that really need to be brought up to date,’ she said.
‘The meals being offered in these chains weren’t necessarily that interesting or balanced or given the same attention as an adult’s meal. Supermarkets, and food manufacturers, would never be able to get away with offering up food like this for children.
‘What’s more worrying is that children are learning these bad nutrition habits early on.
‘As we’re increasingly eating out more regularly and it becomes less of a treat, it’s something which really needs to be dealt with if we’re going to combat obesity in children and into adulthood.’
The full results of the study, and the chains involved, will be revealed when the programme, the second in the new series of the show, is broadcast later this month.
The series begins tomorrow night with scrutiny of marketing ‘buzz words’ used on menus – and finds that ‘fresh’ or ‘home-made’ may not always mean what families think.
The programme found soup described by sandwich chain Pret a Manger as ‘hand-made’ was, in fact, made in a factory.
Nachos described as ‘home cooked’ by another chain were simply deep-fried on the premises, while ‘fresh’ pizza at Pizza Express came from dough that had previously been frozen.
Associate Professor of Law Dr Richard Hyde, from the University of Nottingham, said Food Standards Agency guidelines mean such terms can legally be used as long as the outlet’s cooking methods can be reproduced in a domestic setting. Foods labelled ‘fresh’, meanwhile, must simply not have been preserved in any artificial way.
Sophie described the widespread practice as ‘misleading and manipulative’. She said: ‘It’s fine if it’s an enticing trick to get you to buy; but once you put a premium on that “hand-made” product, and get people to pay extra for it, it becomes daylight robbery.
‘This comes to the heart of the programme – the trick to consumers – and everyone should be made aware that these words do not mean what they imply.’
The programme also reveals that some vegetarian options, such as battered halloumi or veggie burgers, can contain more calories and fat than equivalent meat products.
‘It’s a reminder to people choosing to eat vegetarian for healthy reasons that it’s not always the case,’ she added.
l Series three of Tricks Of The Restaurant Trade begins tomorrow at 8.30pm on Channel 4.